John Hron

John Hron (born January 25, 1981 in Kungälv, died August 17, 1995 in Kungälv) was a Swedish 14 year old boy who was tortured and murdered by four young men on August 17, 1995. The month before his death, John had won a bronze medal in the national canoeing youth championships.

Murder

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. John knew the youngest one, Mikael, from school. Mikael who had been a bully at school for some time says in his own testimony, "I must have scared every last one in that school". John who always spoke his mind had come in conflict with Mikael. Eventually Mikael threatened to kill John. That evening, John was beaten and told to say that he loves Nazis. John refused and was eventually thrown into the water. John started to swim away. They shouted to John to swim back, but he didn’t answer. They then threatened to kill John's friend instead. John then swam back.[1]

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.[2] He sunk to the bottom and drowned.[1][3] His friend, Christian, hitched a ride home and alerted the authorities.

Aftermath

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 posthumously received the inaugural Stig Dagerman Prize for free speech and world peace.[5] Hron's grave has since been desecrated several times.[6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lagercrantz, Agneta (31 January 2005). "Tony Hrons egen sorg fick vänta". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  2. ↑ Lerner, Thomas (16 April 2008). "Hämnden är att försöka må bra". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  3. ↑ Olsson, Lena (12 October 1998). "John Hron förföljs efter sin död". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  4. ↑ Peruzzi, Britt; Sjödin, Stefan (11 May 2000). "Från skolkare – till kallblodig mördare". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  5. ↑ "1996 års Stig Dagermanpristagare John Hron" (in Swedish). Stig Dagermansällskapet. Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
  6. ↑ Darin, Johan (10 August 2007). "John Hrons grav skändad - igen". Expressen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.

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