John Hron (25 January 1981 in Kungälv – 17 August 1995 in Kungälv) was a Swedish boy of Czech origin who was tortured and murdered by four young men on 17 August 1995.[1] The month before his death, John had won a bronze medal in the national canoeing youth championships.
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John was camping with a friend by the small lake Ingetorpssjön near the town Kode in Kungälv Municipality. Four young men, aged 15, 17, 18 and 18, appeared. The men all had ties to the neonazi subculture and the youngest of them identified John, whom he had bullied for some time at school. That evening, John was told to say that he loves Nazis. He refused and was beaten until he did what he was told. The beating nevertheless continued and John was eventually thrown into the water. Soon after, they ordered John to swim back, which he refused. They then threatened to beat up John's friend instead, which made John return.[2]
The torture continued and two of the attackers continued kicking him in the head for several minutes. After he became unconscious, they threw John's fractured body in the water.[3] He sunk to the bottom and drowned.[1][2] His friend, Christian, managed to escape and alert the authorities after hitch-hiking to a nearby village.
In the court, the 18-year-old boy who was the main person behind the abuse was sentenced to eight years in prison for murder.[4] He was released on 1 January 2001. A 15-year-old boy was sentenced to five years closed institutional youth care. The two others were sentenced to ten and four months in prison, respectively. The case received a lot of attention in Sweden. In 1996, Hron was posthumously awarded the Stig Dagerman award for free speech.[5] Hron's grave has been desecrated several times.[6]
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