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After a young Bosnian refugee was arrested for driving a motor vehicle without an operator’s license in Sweden, a Swedish court dismissed the charges against him. He told the court that he had lost his Bosnian driver’s license during his move to Sweden. It was a sympathetic yet problematic ruling by the court. The man did not furnish proof of being a licensed driver, and the Swedish court couldn’t prove that he wasn’t licensed in his home country. What does this say for unlicensed refugees driving in Sweden moving forward? It seems they have no repercussions to fear.
The 22-year-old Bosnian was en route to a pub at the time of his arrest. The prosecution called for him to furnish evidence of licensing. He told the court he didn’t wish to acquire proof of licensing because he didn’t want to alert his home country’s government to his whereabouts, citing “problems” as his reasoning for staying off their radar. The court instead called on the prosecution to prove he didn’t have a license, so the man was acquitted by the court.
What does this court ruling mean? Basically, refugees who recently arrived in Sweden can drive without a license. A Swedish investigator from the small town of Karlskrona said there are 30 similar cases there alone, so it isn’t an uncommon occurrence. Many Swedes are angry with the court’s findings because they would be subjected to heavy fines for the same offense, and jail time for multiple offenses. It is clearly stated in the Swedish law that anyone driving a motor vehicle must be able to present their operating license.
The registration process in Sweden can take a couple of years, therefore outsiders of the European Union who aren’t officially registered in the country aren’t required to have a license, so long as they claim they had one in their home country. Sweden is allowing migrants to continue operating without proper documentation while applications go through their systems lengthy process. Migrants now have a two-and-a-half-year grace period to drive in Sweden. (RELATED: Find more open borders news at Openborders.news)
The court’s ruling has massive safety implications, especially knowing that the suspect whose case brought this issue to light was on his way to consume alcoholic beverages. Many Swedes feel that their country is becoming lawless, and they are being treated like second-class citizens. Last year Sweden opened its railways to free train travel for migrants, while the taxpayers who essentially paid the migrants fare still had to pay for themselves. (RELATED: Find more sanctuary cities news at Sanctuarycities.fetch.news)
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