They did what Swedish politicians and police chiefs have urged ordinary people to do for decades: They intervened. They spoke up. They protected others. Mikael Janicki, Christian Zedig and the 50-year-old father in Karlstad paid the ultimate price.
So it has happened. Again. A responsible father is killed when he does what every adult Swedish man has been taught: to intervene when someone is subjected to violence or abuse.
On June 30, the victim was Christian Zedig – a 32-year-old father of two young children, from Eksjö in Småland. During a World Cup match in Copenhagen, Zedig intervened to stop an ongoing assault. The consequence? Zedig was knocked down and stomped to death by a man of Congolese background, previously convicted of attempted murder and rape.
Exactly two months later, on August 30, a 50-year-old man was stomped to death outside a Burger King in Karlstad. The reason? According to reports, he had spoken up when three men began groping the man’s teenage daughter. The men who had been groping her did not accept this. They knocked the father down and then stomped on his chest and head. The man was taken to Örebro Hospital, but his life could not be saved.
These murders are not unique. In April 2024, Mikael Janicki was on his way to the swimming pool in Skärholmen together with his 12-year-old son. At a pedestrian tunnel, father and son encountered a group of youths who were behaving badly. Mikael Janicki reprimanded them – and was therefore shot and killed with two bullets, in front of his son’s eyes.
Mikael Janicki was shot to death in front of his 12-year-old son. Photo: Screenshot Facebook
Three fathers. Three men who were killed because they did exactly what our politicians and police chiefs had urged them to do for decades.
“Everyone’s responsibility”
In the Ministry of Justice’s national crime-prevention program from 1996, which was even given the title “Everyone’s Responsibility – a national crime-prevention program,” it says:
“The police cannot, however, tackle crime on their own. Successful efforts to reduce crime and increase safety require broad engagement from citizens.”
And even more clearly:
“The work to reduce crime and increase safety is everyone’s responsibility.”
In 2005, the Christian Democrats wanted it to become a criminal offense not to intervene in crimes, and in 2006 the Alliance government wanted to investigate the introduction of a law requiring civil courage.
“A bad person” if you do not intervene
A few years later, when Carin Götblad was Stockholm’s Regional Police Commissioner, she said that “Swedes should not be afraid to help.” When she was asked whether one is a bad person if one does not dare to intervene when witnessing a crime, she answered:
“Yes, I think so.”
In 2009, Regional Police Commissioner Håkan Karlsson said that the police are “completely dependent on the public helping out,” and the following year Jonas Berg, the police operations commander in Helsingborg, expressed the wish that members of the public would have “more courage and dare to react when they see something that is wrong.”
As recently as 2017, Sweden’s then Minister for Justice and Migration, Morgan Johansson (Social Democrats), claimed that “the police are completely dependent on the public helping out and that, in the longer term, we also come together and unite against the criminals.”
How many more will have to die?
Mikael Janicki, Christian Zedig and the 50-year-old man in Karlstad. Three fellow human beings who listened to these calls and protected the vulnerable. Three fathers who acted as good role models for their children. Three men who showed strength, character and determination.
That is why they are dead today.
How many more ordinary people will have to die before Sweden acknowledges that what was once called civil courage can today cost you your life?
