The man, who is in his 40s, used the popular horse game Star Stable to make contact with children. At the end of October, he was charged with sex offenses against 84 children over the Internet.

On Monday, the trial will start, which is expected to last for about six months. A total of 69 negotiating days have been set aside. That makes the trial one of the largest of its kind in Swedish legal history.

"Longest against individual"

Lawyer Arvid Danielsson is the plaintiff's assistant to about 15 of the children.

- There are trials that have been going on for a long time, but then many people are often accused. It may well be the longest against an individual, he says.

At the same time, there are a large number of children who are suspected of being vulnerable and it is therefore no wonder that it takes a long time, says Arvid Danielsson.

- The most important thing is to have things tested in a complete way.

Sentenced several times before

The man has previously been convicted of similar crimes three times. The last sentence fell in June 2017 when he was sentenced to two years and four months in prison for crimes against 25 children. Prosecutors pleaded that he would be held in custody pending serving the sentence - but the district court did not agree and released him.

In principle, the man is immediately suspected of having sought out new victims, mainly through the horse game Star stable. Only after seven months on the free foot was he remanded and has now been charged with sex offenses against 84 children, but the dark figure is expected to be large.

- With the facts in hand, he could commit new crimes so close after the main hearing because he was not kept in custody, Alexandra Bopp, who was one of two prosecutors at the case decided in 2017, previously told SVT.

Denies crime

The man denies the charges. His lawyer Douglas Blidberg is critical of the man being detained for almost two years pending prosecution.

- It is remarkable, the idea is not to sit in detention for so long, says the lawyer.