I'm not going to comment on the Assange case itself since I don't know the details, I'm not a lawyer, and there's so much misinformation out there that it must be almost impossible even for the prosecutors to keep track of what "the case" actually is, but... indeed, the swedish justice system is in many ways archaic. I guess unjust is the best word to describe it. Basically, it's a system that has evolved over time in a country with such low crime rates that simply being charged for a crime in itself is enough to make you guilty in the eyes of the court. If I'm not mistaken, I think Japan has a similar situation, and Japanese and Swedish culture seem strangely similar in other ways too. At least to this swede.
> Sweden has one of the EU's most restrictive drug policies, with zero tolerance for drug use and possession. At the same time, the rate of drug-induced deaths is among the highest in the union, and they are on the rise.
> [...] Only six out of Sweden's 290 municipalities offer needle exchange [...]
> "We always look at Sweden as a very advanced country with the most progressive policies, and I was surprised to see that it lags behind a number of other countries in terms of its policies on drugs," deputy high commissioner for human rights Flavia Pansieri told SVT.
Seems to be needed given how people handle prescription drugs.
Way too many people ignore doctors orders and stop taking their prescription drugs once they "feel well" and then they keep it around in case they or someone they know "feels ill".
Sweeden has many "peculiarities", the one that tremendously impresses me is that voting is effectively not secret.
From what was described to me, when you vote you ask for a sheet of paper. You can ask for several but you'll get weird looks from people. The end result is that anyone that votes in fringe options is effectively identified because no one else asks for those options.
The person that told me this was competely oblivious to any problem with it. When I mentioned that this makes voting "de facto" not secret he mentioned that next time he would ask for all options.
For those curious, the process is described here [1]. As a voter, you go to a table and pick a ballot that represents your choice. You can pick a pre-printed ballot with your party's name on it, or you can take a blank ballot and write it manually. If you want to keep your choice secret, you can pick a bunch of random ballots, but submit just one of them.
For comparison, in Sweden's neighbouring country of Norway, the voting booth where you pick and fill out the ballot is covered with a curtain. You fill out the ballot (they're all printed on the same type of paper), which you fill out and fold so that it hides the contents. You then go over to an election worker, who confirms your identity and gives you an envelope to put the ballot in, which you then seal and put in the drop box.
It varies, usually you have all the papers laid out in a room. You're then free to pick just the ones you'll vote on or you can do like some and take one of each.
Parties will often also send voting blankets in the mail so you can somewhat secretly bring your own papers from home. The only issue there is that some places sets up the voting stands in such a poor way that people almost can see what you're doing anyway.
Another issue that has occurred during the past couple of elections is that the RF/AFA frat boys decided to stand guard at the entrance of some voting places, trying to stop people who intended to vote for SD.
