Anna Sjödin

Anna Sjödin
Anna Sjödin Photo: Martin Adolfsson
Born	April 22, 1976 Össeby-Garn, Vallentuna Municipality

Anna Margareta Sjödin (born April 22, 1976 in Össeby-Garn, Vallentuna Municipality) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician, and elected president of the Social Democratic Youth League from August 3, 2005 to December 16, 2006. She was also elected vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) at the congress in January 2006. Sjödin is the second woman, after Anna Lindh, to be elected president of the Social Democratic Youth League.

Family life

Anna Sjödin is born in Össeby-Garn in Stockholm County and was raised outside of Enköping. She played rugby union in her youth and represented Sweden four times in 1994. After completing her secondary education Sjödin spent one year working at a health care facility in England and after that some time at a Kibbutz in Israel. After returning to Sweden she joined the Social Democratic Youth League at the age of 19, and moved to Umeå in order to study social work and public administration (Swedish: Socionom) at Umeå University. After having completed her studies Sjödin worked at a shelter for battered women.

Political career

Anna Sjödin was first elected chairperson for the Social Democratic Youth League in Västerbotten, and in 2001 was elected in to the board of the Social Democratic Youth League. In August 2005 Sjödin was unanimously elected as the new chairperson of the Social Democratic Youth League after Ardalan Shekarabi who chose not to stand for re-election after several scandals and divisive battles.^[1] In December 2006 she had to resign from the chairperson position after found guilty of behaving bad when drunk. See below. Later she has taken a position as a headmaster of a Folk high school in Vindeln, North Sweden.

Drunken bar fight

On January 29, 2006 Sjödin was arrested by the police outside the pub Crazy Horse in Östermalm in Stockholm. According to Babak Jamei, one of the bouncers, a drunk Sjödin not only assaulted him and other bouncers but also used derogatory words—alluding to the fact that he was an immigrant. Sjödin, however, claims that the bouncers assaulted her and her friends. She had to spend the night in the constabulary.^[2] The prosecutor rejected Sjödins allegations, but continued investigating the allegations made by the bouncers.^[3][4]

During the trial Sjödin continued to claim that the bouncer had screamed profanities at her and her friend and that he was aggressive, but she also admitted that she had drunk a couple of strong beers, a third of a bottle of wine and one tequila. The barman had determined that Sjödin was too drunk to be served, and called the bouncers to eject Sjödin and her friend. During the trial, witnesses testified that Sjödin, who is a former rugby player, had used violence in resisting her ejection from the pub.^[5]

On October 12, 2006, the Stockholm district court found Sjödin guilty of assaulting the bouncer "insult" (Swedish: förolämpning), "taking the law into one's own hands" (Swedish: egenmäktigt förfarande), "assaulting a person holding legal authority" (Swedish: våld mot tjänsteman) and "violent resistance" (Swedish: våldsamt motstånd). She was sentenced to pay a fine of 120 days wages (Swedish: dagsböter) at 300 kronor per day (36,000 kronor in total). Sjödin was also ordered to pay 5,500 kronor in damages to Babak Jamei, the doorman. The court found that Sjödin had used words of "racist characteristic", she had called the guard "bloody blackskull" (Swedish: djävla svartskalle) and had said that people such as him were not welcome in Sweden. The court said that there was strong evidence that Sjödin had challenged the bouncer's authority. The court also found that Sjödin had ripped Jamei's badge from his jacket and taken it with her into a police car.^[5][6] Sjödin has decided to appeal the verdict to the Svea Court of Appeal.^[7] The Court of Appeal decided not to try this case (the Court of Appeal can deny cases when the penalty is a fine). She has said she will appeal this denial, since in this case it is not only a fine, but a political career at stake.

References

1. New Social Democrat youth leader elected, The Local, August 3, 2005
2. "Brawl" leads to SD youth chief arrest, The Local, January 29, 2006
3. Prosecutor rejects SD youth leader brawl allegations, The Local, March 29, 2006
4. Sjödin faces four charges, The Local, April 7, 2006
5. Sjödin guilty of Crazy Horse assault, The Local, October 12, 2006.
6. Anna Sjödin dömd till böter (Swedish), Aftonbladet, October 12, 2006.
7. Sjödin överklagar (Swedish), Dagens Nyheter, October 12, 2006.

External links

• Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (Swedish)