Swedish Trial Opens Into Husband Who Allegedly Sold His Wife to 120 Men While Fostering Children

Ångermanlands tingsrätt — a Swedish district court seated in Härnösand — opened the main trial in case B 2770-25 at 9:00 a.m. local time on Friday, April 10, 2026. According to the court's official notice, proceedings are expected to run 14 to 15 court days and conclude in mid-May. The court has said most of the trial will be held behind closed doors under Sweden's sekretess (confidentiality) rules for sexual-offense cases.

The court notice describes the case only as "grovt koppleri m.m." — gross pimping and related offenses. Details of the indictment have been reported by Sveriges Television's Västernorrland bureau and other Swedish outlets based on the public charging document filed by senior prosecutor Ida Annerstedt of the Swedish Prosecution Authority (Åklagarmyndigheten).

What the indictment alleges

According to Swedish press reporting of the indictment, the lead defendant is a man in his sixties from Ångermanland in Västernorrland County, charged with gross pimping, eight counts of rape, and assault. The charges cover an alleged period from August 2022 to October 2025 — roughly three years. Prosecutors allege the defendant drugged his wife, exploited the resulting drug dependency, installed surveillance cameras inside their home to monitor and film her, and sold her to more than 120 different men.

According to the same reporting, the couple held a contract during the relevant period as a familjehem — a state-approved foster family that receives children placed by municipal social services. Familjehem households must pass vetting by Swedish social services before any child is placed with them.

26 buyers separately charged

As of this week, Annerstedt has separately filed charges against 26 men for köp av sexuell tjänst, the purchase of a sexual service — a criminal offense in Sweden since 1999 under the country's distinctive "Nordic model" law that criminalizes buyers but not sellers. Swedish reporting says the men charged so far come from five counties: Västernorrland, Jämtland, Gävleborgs, Uppsala, and Stockholm, and that additional charges are expected before the main trial concludes.

The investigation is built on phone records, tracked payments, video recordings allegedly made by the defendant of the acts, and what prosecutors have described as a booking register.

Closed doors, limited media access

The district court's notice states that opening proceedings are public, but most of the trial will be closed under Sweden's confidentiality rules for cases involving sexual offenses. The court is pre-booking seats; if the main courtroom and the overflow side room fill up, only one representative per news outlet will be admitted.

The case has been compared in Swedish coverage to the 2024 conviction of Dominique Pelicot in Avignon, France, where Pelicot was found guilty of drugging his wife Gisèle Pelicot and inviting strangers to rape her. Swedish commentators have described the Ångermanland case as the largest of its kind to reach a Swedish court.