Did the doctor suspect the circumcision: "Everything went right"

Three people have been served with suspicion of crime since the police raided a premises in Uppsala on Sunday where a doctor was performing circumcision on boys. In connection with the operation, the doctor was arrested. He was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault, but was released after a day and in connection with that, the prosecutor changed the criminal classification to assault of the normal degree.

DN has spoken with the doctor's defense lawyer Stefan Wallin, who states that his client denies the suspicion directed against him.

- From my client's perspective, he has followed all requirements and rules. There are requirements for hygiene and a sterile environment and for anesthesia and that he must be a licensed doctor with a permit. He considers that he has met those requirements, says Stefan Wallin.

According to Wallin, the doctor had answers to all the questions that were put to him during the police interrogation.

- He has explained to the police what means he used, how he sterilized, how he stored his tools and how he made sure that everything went right. And then they let him go, there was no counter question, says Wallin.

Circumcision of boys is legal, as long as it is performed by a licensed physician and under conditions that meet hygiene and anesthesia requirements. Female genital mutilation is illegal.

Furthermore, circumcision of boys who are infants can be performed by people who are not doctors, but who have a special permit issued by the Inspectorate for Care and Care.

- The plaintiffs we have dealt with in the case are only boys. I will not go into the number, more than that there are several, and I will not go into ages either. We have no information that any girls are plaintiffs in this case, prosecutor Emma Haals told DN on Tuesday.

She further stated that what must now be investigated is whether the procedures performed on the boys meet the requirements for anesthesia and hygiene.

- He was arrested based on certain circumstances at the scene and that a boy who had undergone a circumcision had to be taken to hospital for surgery, said Emma Haals yesterday Tuesday.

The case has been handed over to the prosecutor's office in Örebro, which specializes in crimes in care environments. It is the prosecutor Hanna Göthberg who has taken over the case, but she does not want to give any comments on Wednesday.

- I have just received the case and haven't had time to familiarize myself with it, she says.

The boy who underwent surgery after the police intervention in Uppsala has been discharged from the hospital. According to lawyer Stefan Wallin, the suspected doctor questions the fact that the boy was taken to hospital.

- I do not have concrete information about why he was taken to hospital. We only learned that he had been taken to the hospital and my client questioned that, because he felt that the procedures that were performed went perfectly well. So we don't really know what the reason was, but maybe it will come to light, he says.