Television celebrity gets public defender in attention target

The man had previously hired attorney Thomas Martinson as a private defender. He has now been appointed public defender of the Stockholm District Court, which means that the state is responsible for the cost of the defense.

"I judged that there was a need for a public defender, mainly because of the great attention the case has received," says Paulina Brandberg, chamber prosecutor.

However, she has not decided whether the man will be served on suspicion of criminal misdemeanor negligent rape, in addition to the sex purchase he has already acknowledged.

The investigation of the TV celebrity was taken over by the National Unit for International and Organized Crime after investigators saw some links between a case of suspected trafficking in human beings and the address at Östermalm in Stockholm where the man was arrested in connection with the sex purchase.

In the human trafficking investigation, two men are detained on suspicion of human trafficking and gross misdemeanor.

"We are trying to get further into the matter," says Paulina Brandberg, chamber prosecutor.

The preliminary investigation into the man around suspected negligent rape was initiated after he said in a television interview the day after he got arrested for the sex purchase "You buy another woman's body, surely someone who is yours".

If the investigation shows that the woman may have been forced to prostitute, it could then be considered a negligent rape.

But the TV celebrity's defender states that his client will deny that charge if he is served on suspicion of a crime.

"A television interview that was made in a certain way the day after the train goes, is not a really good basis for such a serious suspicion," said Thomas Martinson, the man's lawyer.