Jonas Falk protests against the trial in Sweden

The 53-year-old was during the first minutes of the hearing on a link from the detention center, and was seen sitting together with a correctional officer in a bare room. He wore glasses and a light t-shirt. The judge, lawyer Göran Lundahl, explained that Falk must only be present when he is to be heard in court. The link was then disconnected. In protest against the trial, Falk does not leave any position on the suspicions.

The defense's objection is essentially that Jonas Falk believes that the suspected crimes should be tried in a Spanish court. Swedish prosecutors have the opportunity to prosecute Falk in the case because he is a Swedish citizen, but a suitability assessment must be made, says Max Ahlgren to TT.

- Then there are a number of guidelines and criteria that must be decided upon. I mean that not a single one of the criteria set out there is at hand in this case.

The indictment of four cases of extremely serious drug offenses against Falk includes a total of more than 2.5 tons of cocaine.

The crimes are said to have been committed between 2020 and 2021 in international waters as well as in Spain, Suriname, Colombia, Costa Rica and Portugal. According to prosecutor Lars Lindman, the 53-year-old has planned and organized cocaine smuggling from South America to Europe across the Atlantic.

The evidence is largely based on evidence from Sky ECC communications, an encrypted communications service that was cracked in 2021 in an international police collaboration. According to Max Ahlgren, in the current case it was French police who read Sky devices in Spain, and then a Spanish court must be allowed to test how to view those measures.

- And with the fact that the case is now being moved from Spain, that issue cannot be tried there, because in Spain it is tried in connection with a possible criminal trial.

The matter cannot be tried in Sweden either, he believes, because there is no authority to comment on Spanish legislation.

- Practically and concretely, this means depriving Jonas Falk of the opportunity to have that issue tried.

According to Max Ahlgren, Falk is also of the opinion that the Swedish judiciary has a corner against him after the high-profile "Playa" case in 2010.

- Jonas's view is that the defeat for the prosecutor and the police has influenced the prosecutor's decision to transfer these suspects from Spain to Sweden, says Ahlgren.