The five suspects in the investigation into the murder of Salwan Momika, who had repeatedly burned copies of the Koran in Sweden in 2023, were put out of the case, the Swedish prosecutor announced on Friday March 21.
“We have a fairly precise idea of the course of events, but no one is currently in police custody or officially suspected”said prosecutor Rasmus Oman in a statement. “We work widely and I cannot go on the tracks we follow”he added.
Salwan Momika, a 38 -year -old Christian Iraqiian whose acts had aroused a wave of protest in Muslim countries, was shot dead on January 29 in an apartment in Sodurtalje, south of Stockholm.
Momika was assassinated a few hours before a Stockholm court rules on his guilt and that of a co -accused Salwan Najem, both prosecuted for ethnic hatred.
The Stockholm Court had postponed its judgment for several days, but finally recognized Salwan Najem, 50 and also from Iraq, guilty of ethnic hatred in four Koran autodafés in 2023. No judgment was pronounced for Salwan Momika.
Live on Tiktok
According to the daily AFTONBLADETthe police had placed Momika in a secret place before the judgment, in order to ensure their protection. Momika was live on Tiktok when intruders broke. Five men had been arrested just a few hours after the shooting, before being released two days later. They were officially put out of the case on Friday.
Relations between Sweden and several countries in the Middle East have been tested by the acts of the two men. Iraqi demonstrators stormed the Sweden Embassy in Baghdad twice in July 2023, triggering fires within the embassy the second time. In August 2023, the Swedish intelligence service Sapo noted its level of threat to four on a scale of five, declaring that the Koran fires had made the country a country “Priority target”.
Vice-Prime Minister, EBBA Busch, had described the murder of Salwan Momika as “Threat to our free democracy”while Prime Minister Ulf Krissels said there was “A risk that there is also a link with a foreign power”.
Source: Lemonde