Reuters
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The Swedish government on Friday proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow some criminal organization leaders to be stripped of their citizenship, as part of efforts to combat widespread organized crime.
In January, a bipartisan parliamentary committee proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow dual citizens convicted of espionage or treason to have their passports revoked, but stopped short of a proposal targeting organized crime.
“The government has chosen to take the very commission’s proposals further, to also make it possible, for example, to strip citizenship from leaders of criminal organizations who have caused very serious harm to society,” Justice Minister Gunnar Stromer told a press conference.
He said the bill introduced in parliament on Friday would allow for the revocation of the passports of dual nationals convicted of “crimes seriously affecting vital national interests” such as serious gang crimes.
Sweden has been plagued by organized crime-related violence for more than a decade.
The government and its backers, the far-right, anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats, won the 2022 election on promises to reduce immigration and gang crime, which they insist are linked. A new general election is scheduled for 2026.
To change the Swedish constitution, the proposal would need to be passed by parliament with a simple majority, followed by a general election and then a second referendum.
Stromer said he aims for the constitutional amendment to take effect in early 2027.
