The Supreme Court lowers damages to Malmö night club discrimination victims

Alert DateOctober 1, 2008 Country: Sweden Address: Stockholm General Type: Discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-migrant/xenophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Migrants Key socio-economic/institutional areas: Culture, Daily life Hate speech/Racist Discourse Medium: Other
Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Victims Gender Male
Victims Age 18-25, 26-35
Victims Number 4
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Perpetrator Gender N/A
Perpetrator Age 26-35
Perpetrators Number N/A
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No


The Supreme Court [Högsta Domstolen] has reduced the compensation to be paid to four men who were discriminated against by a Malmö night club. The men, all of whom have “foreign” appearances, were denied entry to the Escape night club in Malmö, while their “Swedish-looking” friends were allowed into the establishment. The men, who were law students, recorded the incident and later sued the nightclub with support from Sweden’s Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination [Ombudsman mot etnisk diskriminering].
The court of appeal had ordered Escape to pay each man 15,000 SEK (1500 euro), but in its ruling, the Supreme Court reduced the damages claim to 5,000 SEK (500 euro) per person.

Source: The Equality Ombudsman, http://www.do.se