FEB 6 2012

Should Old Acquaintance be forgot…

Thanks All Ye Faithful who open my blog with the hope to find something new and worthwhile reading, but who with disappointment must be faced with blank reality.

I asked our good friend N E Jonsson in Härnösand if it would be possible to print out some of the 2011 blogs and make them into a booklet. No problem, said Jonsson, the typographer, compositor. But how do you want to proceed after that? When it comes to distribution and making them known? Who would be interested?

We’re brooding over it and asking for advice.

In my last writing I wrote about my wife Kerstin, Olle’s mother. I would like to add some more regarding her attitude to the Police.

Kerstin had been brought up with the old Swedish moral values; Authorities were to be respected and the Police was ranking highest on that list. The Police guaranteed Law and Order in society and moreover the Police actually was the embodiment of Honor, Honesty, Right and Justice. If the Authority or a particular police officer occasionally made a mistake, or acted erroneously it could and should be excused.  However, a civil service officer who did not do his duty in an assignment he had been trusted, was unheard of according to her. And a policeman acting dishonestly in exercising his duty might happen in other countries, but not here, not in Sweden!

This was Mom Kerstin’s strong belief and opinion when we first contacted the police and asked for help in our search for and investigation of our son Olle, who disappeared in the city where he went to school a Wednesday evening in September 1983. The fact was that we were met by unwillingness, stupidity, meanness and more, of which I have previously written enough.

Today, certain policemen admit that “mistakes were made in the investigation” and reference has been made to the fact that “The Police commissioner was non compos mentis and that he also was fired.” This was absolutely of no comfort for us! The Parliamentary Ombudsman and the Chancellor of Justice had all given the Police commissioner and his investigation their full support.

We were met by incompetence as well as dishonesty and there was a flagrant malpractice in the evaluation of incoming information and hints.

Such as: “Olle might have made a shack on the Norra Berget (a resort area in Sundsvall) the same night that he disappeared”.

The flagrant dishonesty in prioritizing incoming hints:

Such as: There was information about screaming and thuds from the Floragatan street which was considered of no interest. “The person providing the information is a senior citizen”.

Needless to say, Kerstin was as miserable as I was, but she still carried a hope: “There must be one grown-up person to talk to!” No, we never met a grown-up person within the Sundsvall Police force, only dwarfs.

At an earlier stage than Kerstin did, I had come to realize that the so called investigation regarding Olle was not carried out with the intention to find out what had actually happened to him. The intention was rather to obfuscate, confuse, lie and procrastinate.

“We should not dig too deeply into the Olle Högbom case. It might cause trouble for someone within the police force…”

When the truth and the whole situation dawned on Kerstin it became, naturally, an extra load on already too heavy a burden.

Kerstin never got to take part of the statement which was promised to be given to us by the responsible Inspector.

Regards, Ruben

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FEB 6 2012

Inlay, one year ago

A Swedish hymn begins:

Another day leaves my life and it shall not return …

The New Year has just started and I might as well take up my duties.

I am opening my beak again and consequently, it can be expected that I have something new to offer. No such thing, nothing new, no new incidences, no ideas.

Regarding Olle things are just as dreary as they were when I - at the end of last year - dropped my thoughts down the blog chute. What can I now produce? I have told the story about Olle, and I have written some about myself, what have I said about his mother Kerstin?

Kerstin was dutiful and disciplined. She used to say: “I represent the Town administration and I do my best to perform the duties that I have undertaken and that are entrusted to me.”

Thus, Kerstin had great confidence in the Police as well as in other authorities in society.

“I do my share and I expect others to do theirs”.

Her attitude to life was expressed by the words of the Swedish poet Karin Boye’s poem ‘Wish’:

If there was only one day remaining of my full life

I would look for the most precious that life on earth contains.

The most beautiful on earth is merely Probity,

still it makes a lonely life into Life and Reality.

Kerstin entered into the Eternal rest on March 15, 2008. Her last questions concerned her son Olle.

Best wishes! Ruben

( translator A-B Wikström)

Sep 2012

SEP 30 2012

Once again, Floragatan Street in Sundsvall, Sweden

I happened to listen to an interview with Göran Rosenberg, a Swedish journalist and author when he spoke about his father on TV.

He said: It is necessary to remember what happened in central Europe in our time. It can happen again if we allow ourselves to forget. Auschwitz is a reminder that the most unthinkable can take place, people can become pawns in a system which gives orders and protects.

In our city, Sundsvall in Sweden no prisoners have disappeared from their camps, only an 18-year-old high school student. We – his family – cannot keep quiet about Olle and say: It is so unreal. We had better forget!

What happened in Nazi-Germany was unreal. Unthinkable and still a reality. Göran Rosen-berg forbids us to forget.

What happened to Olle is unthinkable but it has still happened. And we who are his family do not want to shut up.

The facts regarding Olle’s disappearance are these:

1. At around 10 PM that Wednesday evening on September 7, he was on the Floragatan street in Sundsvall.

2. A number of policemen were searching around the blocks of Floragatan after a burglar.

3. A witness tells that she woke up by some commotion down the street. She heard thuds agains metal and someone who screamed ouch, ouch! Agitated voices and banging car doors. The witness was dismissed by the chief investigator with the words: Why, it was an older person ….

4. The investigation has come up with different ideas. However, everything that is connected to Floragatan has been avoided: The testimony about thuds and screams, the evident wheel tracks from braking tires on the tarmac, Olle’s glasses and bicycle key that was found near the so called Gym.

As far as I understand, the police have manipulated the investigation regarding our son in the grossest and most dishonest manner. If the police claim that they have made a target-oriented investigation, I definitely oppose to it. It is far below any decency.

Consider this: Information H:20 reads:

A young man, temporarily working in a bar close to Floragatan, states that late in the evening of Sep 7, a tall young man dressed in dark clothes enters the bar, but walked out when he realized that they were closing. We forwarded this man’s information to the investigation group. After a day or two we asked what they had found out from the man in the bar. The answer was: The information is of no interest in the search of Olle. That young man was sober and Olle was drunk….

How can anybody have a comment to this?

October 2012

October 2012

What am I to do next?

In my attempts to get in touch with the Police and Justice departments I have used the means at hand, viz. the WORD. For almost 30 years I have written, gone there, asked for information, asked for meetings. No response, no reaction, no dialog.

Well, the authorities have shifted sort of.

In an explanatory document of Nov. 25, 1983 to The Swedish Chancellor of Justice the Chief investigator makes the following statement: “The investigation has been performed unbiased and there has been no concrete reason to believe that a crime has been committed.”

In a plea to the District court in Ångermanland of July 16, 2003, the same investigator makes this statement:

“During the entire investigation of Olle Högbom’s death the theory of the Police has been that Olle became a victim of violence.”   

As a consequence of this statement, we humbly asked the Police of which reason the opinion had shifted in the direction that “Olle had been a victim of violence.”

The question was considered provocative and was never answered.

WORDS have no value or effect when the other party does not understand, does not want to understand or does not have to understand.

We have never been met by respect by the Police and the Judicial system.

In 1983, the chief of Investigation in Sundsvall uttered the following:

If Olle’s disappearance is solved, it is solved. If it is not solved, it’s not…it is as simple as that!”

So, there is no use to make an effort, I guess.

Sep 2012

Sep 20, 2012

Olle Högbom, age 18, Sundsvall, Sweden disappeared on Sep 7, 1983

The tragic reality is that our son Olle has disappeared.

Most likely, an atrocious deed, an act of violence lies behind his disappearance. (According to Police officer Tore Pettersson, Härnösand, Sweden).

The unlikely but still quite possible truth is that a couple of policemen in Sundsvall have given Olle a beating.

Below I am listing the facts from the police research (with registration numbers) as well as the results from our own research. For some of the facts there is no material or data, such as objects or testimonies. In those cases I have stated what happened on the basis of known circumstances, e.g. Olle’s physical condition, his temperament and values.

1. Olle was last seen at the railroad crossing on the Floragatan street at around 10 PM on Sep 7, 1983. He was believed to have been waiting for his friend Axell to show up and meanwhile he was chatting with his diver friend.

2. A bit further down on Floragatan, in the old Girls school, there is an alarm going off due to a burglary. Two people have been seen creeping into the building through a broken window. One of the supposedly two burglars was caught and taken to the police quarters not too far away.  Reg. no H 45:3

3. An unknown number of policemen are searching the area round Floragatan, patrolling alone, or in cars for the person who supposedly had left the school when the alarm went off.

Reg. no H 45:2

4. Olle notices the commotion further down the street and decides to walk down the Floragatan to find out what’s going on.

5. He walks one block, to the pedestrian crossing at the High school gym, north entrance.

6. There two policemen notice him and believe that he is one of the burglars.

7. The police car jams on the brakes; the traces on the tarmac are noticed and photographed. Reg. no H 43:5.

8. Two policemen rush out of the car and jumps very closely and threateningly towards the tall boy and bombards him with questions.

9. Olle gets scared and his speech is blocked. Olle had a speech impediment, he stuttered.

10. The policemen are highly irritated when not getting an answer to their questions and hit Olle hard with a truncheon.

11. A woman living on the second floor in the so called Gym house wakes up of the noise and loud voices from the street under her bedroom window. She reports having heard thuds against metal and that she had heard someone scream ouch, ouch! Reg. no H 47.

12. Olle is pulled on the tarmac in front of the entrance of the building. Here he was exposed to tough physical violence. He loses his glasses of a model for orienteering and his bicycle key. D H 43:5

13. I, his father Ruben, have been able to follow Olle up to the tarmac strip in front of the Gym. After that there are no traces. From there he was taken by someone somewhere in a car.

The rest is silence. There is a sizable report in existence – ten kilos of paper documents containing nonsense.

The obvious intention is not to take notice of any of the reports from Floragatan, where Olle evidently spent his last minutes.

Dear Svensson Swede, I know you are saying: These things do not happen here! Policemen are kind and helpful creatures.

A person with a criminal record, who was sent out to work with me during my time in forestry told me:

“Yes, I have been fighting with policemen. I know that I have injured someone. I got angry when they grabbed me and I had done absolutely nothing. But now I do not fight back with the police anymore. I just lie down and let them take me. They are so many. And when they start shaking they become dangerous! Then they beat you recklessly.”

Another friend said: “I have worked as a fire fighter and as an ambulance driver I have taken care of young people who have been drinking and who have been subject to the abuse of the police. And I have often wondered what happened to your son. I know the policemen who were out that night. They were no sweethearts!”

That’s all for today. Goodbye you all faithful readers!

Ruben

Sep

Oktober 2012

ORDET

Oktober 2012

 Vad ska jag göra nu?

I mina försök att få kontakt med polis- och rättsväsende har jag använt det medel som stått till buds: ORDET.

 I snart 30 år har jag skrivit, uppvaktat, bett om besked, bett om samtal. Ingen respons. Ingen reaktion. Ingen dialog.

Ja, myndigheten har jämkat lite:

I en förklaring till JUSTITIEMANNEN 1983 11 25 försäkrar dåvarande spaningsledning:

Oaktat utredningen har måst bedrivas förutsättningslöst har det aldrig funnits någon konkretiserad misstanke om brott…

I en inlaga till Tingsrätten i Ångermanland  2003 07 16 skriver samma myndighet:

Polisen har dock hela tiden arbetat efter brottsteorin och det är sannolikt att Olle Högbom blivit utsatt för våldsbrott…

Vi frågade då, stillsamt och ödmjukt:

Vilka omständigheter föreligger för den nu redovisade uppfattningen att ” Olle blivit utsatt för våldsbrott?”

Frågan uppfattades som provokativ och besvarades aldrig.

ORD blir verkningslösa när motparten inte förstår. Inte vill förstå. Inte behöver förstå.

Vi har aldrig blivit bemötta med respekt av polis- och rättsmyndigheten:

- Om Olles försvinnande löser sej, så löser det sej. Om det inte löser sej, så löser det sej inte… Så enkelt är det!”

Sade Spaningsledningen i Sundsvall 1983.

Så varför anstränga sej….

Hälsn. Ruben

Floragatan.3

In 1983 our son Olle Högbom disappeared without a trace. Still to this day there has not been an explanation to what happened. Below I want to state the facts that I have collected during the research made by us, Olle’s family, and by the Swedish police.

Sunday December 30, 2012

Tragedy or Trifling matter

Olle wants to go home, but first he wants to find his buddy Acksell. He went downtown while Olle was talking to Nilsson, a young diver. The five or six schoolmates he came with from the apartment continue to the Pub. Olle is waiting at the railroad crossing on Floragatan street, since he is expecting Acksel to come sooner or later as this is the main passage over the railroad.

So, Olle sits down by the road leaning against a fence waiting. I can visualize my son, en experienced woodman, is sitting right on the ground, making sure he has back support.

Nobody knows how long he was sitting there, but most likely his rest became quite short. From further down the Floragatan street, by the church loud voices are heard, words of commands, screams and racing car engines. Cars are rushing up the Floragatan in wild speed, civilian vehicles leaving an odour of hot tires and burnt oil. After comes a police car with the siren on and flashing lights at top speed.

Maybe it was not like this at all. Maybe just a single car slowly driving up the Floragatan street, or else an occasional police car cruising around the block.

We do not know what really happened there on the Floragatan. And those who know won’t tell. But the curious young man from the country is eager to find out what is going on near the church and starts walking down the street. He walks one block to the crossing at the corner of the Gym.

There! A police car coming in the opposite direction steps on the brakes making traces in the tarmac photographed and registered as Journal number H 43:5.

Two policemen jump out of the car, press the tall boy dressed in dark clothes against the side of the car and grunt: “Now, we got you! You ran away, but didn’t get very far. That’s what happens when we are on the lookout! So, what’s your name?” Olle is petrified. He has a speech impediment, he stutters, and at this point his faculty of speech is totally blocked.

“Oh, you are too drunk to speak, are you! But, we’ll help you!”

Now something is happening which several fortune tellers, whom we have contacted or who have contacted us have said:  Olle is hit by a truncheon against his neck and head and he cries out loud: “Ouch, ouch!”

A lady living in the caretaker’s apartment hears noises, thuds and banging car doors. She reports her observation but her testimony is considered of lesser value; the witness being an older person.

What actually took place on Floragatan and on the asphalt area in front of the house is wrapped in mystery to say the least. Very likely Olle is being thrashed violently and his eyeglasses, designed for orienteering with frames fitted around the ears, are knocked off.

The bicycle key was found on the grass strip outside the asphalt square. How did he lose it? Maybe when unconscious and beaten he is dragged into a (police) car. Fortune tellers have contacted us and said that Olle is throwing up in the car. The policemen go into a rage and give him more thrashing and he chokes to death in his own vomit.

Now there is a problem…where to find a place to dump the body.

I have scanned the area and found many possible places to get rid of a body; Perhaps the road construction area west of Stavreviken, perhaps the bridge at Nedansjö, perhaps the brook Armsjöån, perhaps a desolated cape or a beach accessible by car.

Two police officers in the Sundsvall Police corps know where.

Ruben