STOCKHOLM – A Stockholm court on Nov 18 jailed four men for hate crimes for assaulting immigrants in a case that has shone a spotlight on a growing European movement of white-supremacist fitness clubs.
The four men, aged 20 to 23, are members of an “Active Club” – loosely structured
groups that meet in gyms
and aim to promote white-nationalist, misogynist and hyper-masculine ideology.
They were given prison sentences ranging from three to three-and-a-half years for aggravated assault after they beat up three men of foreign origin in 30 minutes on Aug 27 in Stockholm.
The group first beat a black man with an umbrella while shouting racial slurs. They then attacked a man of Syrian origin, knocking him to the ground and kicking him in the head until he lost consciousness and four teeth.
Three of the four then beat a man on a subway train.
“The four men are of Swedish origin and have connections to Aktivklubb Sverige (AKS), which is considered a far-right organisation with clear racist elements and which engages in martial arts,” the court said in a statement.
“At least two of the men performed Hitler salutes during the night in question. All of the victims have an ethnic background different from the defendants.
“All of the crimes for which the men are convicted have hate crime motives, except for the vandalism,” the court said, referring to neo-Nazi graffiti drawn on store windows.
During the trial, prosecutors presented material seized from the four, including notebooks with swastikas and stickers with the inscription “Love Sweden, Hate Islam”.
The victims said they had been traumatised. The man attacked in the subway said he felt “intense hatred” as he was assaulted.
“I was beaten severely… I didn’t even have time to think before he took a running start and hit me with full force,” he told the court.
The victim beaten with the umbrella testified: “It was as if these people knew what they were doing, that they were practicing kickboxing or something similar, that they were training to injure.”
The accused had denied the charges against them, save for the final assault, which was caught on security cameras. They claimed they acted in self-defence.
According to the Swedish anti-racism watchdog Expo, Active Club members are encouraged to use violence outside the gym against targets including immigrants, feminists, Jews and the LGBTQ community.
They “hope to regain their masculinity by way of violence, improving their physical fitness and building a strong fraternity with other men who support each other”, according to a document published by the Swedish Centre for Preventing Violent Extremism.
Sweden’s intelligence service Sapo has warned of the risk of radicalisation of young men attracted by violence and far-right groups like Active Clubs. AFP
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