Swedish appeals court finds two shop-owners guilty of ethnic discriminationagainst Romani woman

02 April 1998

The Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter reported on November 26 that a provincial appeals court had overturned a lower court ruling which had acquitted two shop-owners of wrong-doing in a discrimination case. The court found that the two men had acted in an ethnically discriminatory manner when they refused a Romani woman envy to their shop in the city of Eskilstuna, approximately 150 kilometres west of Stockholm. The shop-owners argued that they had refused entry to the woman because of the traditional garments she was wearing. They claimed that she could easily conceal stolen goods under her skirt. A lower court sided with them, but the appeal court overturned the ruling, stating that a ban on entry due to traditional clothing had to be seen as a form of ethnic discrimination. The court sentenced the two men to court fees and to pay 5000 Crowns (approximately 1,130 German Marks) in damages.

(Dagens Nyheter)