After the brothers were acquitted of the suspects in 2018, they demanded damages of ten million kronor each.

But the Chancellor of Justice (JK) said no, because it has been too long.

- It hits them extremely hard.

Given the very far-reaching damages they have suffered, it is not reasonable that they cannot claim damages with reference to prescription, says Alparslan Tügel, representative of Christian Karlsson.

The alternatives for the brothers have been to either demand that the government by grace, ex gratia, pay them compensation, or to sue the state.

Now TT can tell you that the brothers and their representatives on Friday submitted a request to the government for compensation ex gratia.

"Suffered terribly"

"Both during the police investigation and afterwards, the brothers suffered immensely over the wrongful acts and the wrong designation of them as responsible for Kevin's death," says Alparslan Tügel and continues:

- The Chancellor of Justice says that it is too late to submit damages twenty years later, because it is already statute-barred after ten years.

But then you have to remember that this was only discovered after the limitation period has expired, so the brothers have not had any opportunity to claim damages during the time they had the right to do so according to the law, says Alparslan Tügel.

In August 1998, four-year-old boy Kevin lost his life.

But the incident would also deprive the brothers of a normal upbringing.

One week after Kevin was found dead, police questioned the two boys, then five and seven years old, for the first time.

There would be many and long interrogations in the coming weeks.

One of the last is over 4.5 hours long and the oldest boy says 61 times that he does not want or can take it anymore.

An analysis has also shown a high proportion of leading questions and that as many as nine different perpetrators were pointed out by the boys.

Major shortcomings

Despite this, the police had made up their minds and in mid-October of the same year pointed out the boys as guilty of Kevin's death.

No judicial review was made of their guilt.

Twenty years later, Chief Prosecutor Niclas Wargren decided to dismiss the brothers from the case. After reviews in SVT and DN which showed major shortcomings in the investigation from 1998, the preliminary investigation had been reopened. The new investigation concluded that there was no evidence that the boys were involved or even present when the death occurred. It is even doubtful whether Kevin's death was even due to a crime, the prosecutor stated.

After JK announced in July last year that the brothers were not entitled to damages, the Swedish Bar Association went out and said that there may be reason to review whether a change in the law is needed regarding the limitation period in this and similar cases.

Since the brothers were children and could not be tried as criminals, they lost the opportunity to take various out-of-date measures, such as appealing a verdict.

- I think it is an issue that needs to be reviewed, for example within the framework of an investigation to review whether a change in the law is needed, Mia Edwall Insulander said then.