"Had it been in Sweden, the 18-year-old would have escaped slightly"

On Tuesday, the young accused men from northwest Stockholm were heard in court in Glostrup, Denmark. They are suspected of the double murder outside Copenhagen in the summer of 2019.

They say the same standard answer:

"I'm only talking about myself, not about other people. "

In court, some relatives sit and listen to the defendants' explanations when the prosecutor goes through surveillance photos and clothes that the suspects must have been wearing. The prosecutor wants to show that the people were in Denmark at the time the murder took place. He says he can link them to the crime scene in Herlev, where a 23-year-old and his 21-year-old brother-in-law were killed in June last summer.

The youngest of the accused, who was 17 when he was arrested and went to high school, claims that he was not in Denmark at the time in question, as the prosecutor claims. The Hugo Boss trousers do not have to be the ones he was wearing.

“It is not my mother who sewed these especially for me. There are thousands of others with the same suit ", he says annoyed to prosecutor Kim Petersen.

I do not know if he really understands where he is facing. The Danish legislation differs from the Swedish.

In Denmark, he has been able to be detained for over a year, despite his age.

In Sweden, he could have been at large pending trial. A new bill in Sweden proposes a time limit of three months' detention for suspects under 18 years of age. The times may only be exceeded if there are special reasons, for example, that the suspected crime is part of gang-related crime.

In Sweden, he had been able to get a youth discount due to his young age. That possibility does not exist in Denmark. There, he and the co-defendants risk long prison sentences. Denmark has particularly strict legislation against gang crime, which can result in twice as severe punishment. In this case, life imprisonment is on the scale.

In Sweden, a recurring annoyance is that suspects refuse to say a word during the police investigation. When they then get to take part in the entire investigation and hear what other accused say in court, they can start there to provide the prosecutor with completely new information that can be difficult to disprove.

In Sweden, the verdict will be based on what is said during the trial, but in Denmark the prosecutor shows that previously stated information is used. The prosecutor refers to explanations that the suspects said in arrest negotiations. Among other things, that one of the younger people posed for a picture with people he knew belonged to the Death Patrol. A gang he does not want to be associated with when he is heard in court.

A year ago, the 17-year-old who has now turned 18 went to high school. In Sweden, he could have escaped relatively easily in a conviction. In Denmark, he risks a long life behind bars.

That is what the police and relatives of the victims are hoping for. That convictions will lead to an end to the gang conflict between the Death Patrol and Shottaz.

The question is whether that is enough.

In the area there are many teenagers in the tail of the two gangs, ready to take over.