Sweden’s Left Party leader in Falun, Patrik Liljeglod, has revealed that an armed man brutally attacked and raped him at knifepoint, allegedly for his political stance.
Walking home at the end of July from a bus stop in Falun, he was suddenly attacked, threatened with a weapon and raped, Liljeglod disclosed on Facebook.
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“On my way home I was attacked by an unknown man armed with a knife,” Liljeglod said. “I was brutally treated and also raped at knifepoint under the pretext that I was ‘Left-wing female genitalia’, that people like me ‘enjoy this’ and finally that I was a traitor.”
In an emotional and very personal revelation, the politician said he initially kept the attack private, only reporting it to police, but eventually turned it into a public discourse because the nature of the incident was politically motivated.
“The few words and sentences expressed by the man had a clear connection to me as politically active and therefore it affects us all,” Liljeglod wrote, adding that “what happened to me is an event in the crowd.”
Stressing that he does not seek “compassion or empathy,” the politician continued the rest of his narrative speaking about protecting the principles of democracy in Sweden.
“I stand here because, given my deeply rooted belief that democracy is an integral part of our society,” he wrote. “Nothing is more important than democracy, people die for the right to democracy every day – and the right we have inherited through our parents’ struggles, we have to continue fighting for.”
No one has yet been arrested for the attack on Liljeglod.
“We have secured some traces we have sent for analysis to the National Forensic Center,”said Police spokesman Stefan Dangardt. “If it turns out that the motive is his political allegiance then it is obviously a hate crime.”
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“There are surveys that show that up to 30% of all politicians have been subjected to crime, but only 20% report it,” the spokesman pointed out.
According to a recent The Politicians Safety Survey (PTU), published by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, some 6.3 percent of elected politicians who were polled admitted having suffered a hate crime in 2014.
The Left Party of Sweden (Vänsterpartiet) is a socialist and feminist political party that advocates environmentalism. Created 100 years ago, the party has never been part of the national government, only serving at local level.
In the wake of the refugee crisis in Europe, the party has been pushing to establish special employment assistance and improving the quality of language teaching for migrants.
