Henrik Landerholm, the childhood friend and former national security adviser to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, has been found guilty of negligence with classified information. The ruling was delivered on October 19th by the Svea Court of Appeal, which overturned a previous not-guilty verdict issued by the Attunda district court in September 2025.
Landerholm resigned from his post in January 2025, serving for just over two years before stepping down amid a police investigation. The probe was initiated following reports that he had left classified documents in an unlocked cupboard at a conference hotel situated north of Stockholm. This incident was part of a series of security lapses previously disclosed by the newspaper DN, which also included the misplacement of his notebook at the studios of public radio broadcaster SR and the abandonment of his mobile phone at the embassy of Hungary during Nato talks.
While the Attunda district court had previously exonerated him, noting that there was no evidence of deliberate risk-taking or that the documents had reached a foreign power, the appeals court reached a different conclusion. Håkan Sellman, a judge on the Svea Court of Appeal, stated in a press release that high standards are expected of anyone handling sensitive security information. The court determined that the only reasonable explanation for the documents being left behind was that Landerholm was considerably careless while emptying the security deposit box. Given his extensive experience in senior government positions, the court ruled that his actions constituted gross negligence.
Landerholm, who expressed his disappointment regarding the verdict on X, was sentenced to 80 day-fines of 650 kronor each, resulting in a total penalty of 52,000 kronor.
