Henrik Landerholm, the childhood friend who Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson appointed national security adviser, has been found guilty of 'negligence with classified information' after a court overturned his not-guilty verdict.
"Today's guilty verdict by the Svea Court of Appeal is, of course, a disappointment," Landerholm wrote on X.
Landerholm resigned as national security adviser in January 2025 after just over two years in the post, after police launched an investigation into reports he left classified documents in an unlocked cupboard at a conference hotel north of Stockholm.
The incident was one of a series of security mishaps first revealed by the DN newspaper, including leaving his notebook at public radio broadcaster SR's studios, and his mobile phone at the embassy of Hungary during the Nato talks.
He was exonerated in September 2025, when the Attunda district court found that while Landerholm had "been negligent" and the documents could have endangered national security "if they had fallen into the hands of a foreign power", there was no evidence that this had in fact happened or that the incident involved "deliberate risk-taking or other aggravating circumstances".
But the appeals court threw out the verdict on October 19th.
"High standards must be expected of anyone handling documents containing sensitive security information. The only reasonable explanation for the man leaving the documents behind is that he was considerably careless when emptying the security deposit box in which he had stored them," Håkan Sellman, a judge on the Svea Court of Appeal, said in a press release.
"Taking into account, among other things, his position as national security adviser and his extensive experience in senior government positions which, according to him, had given him considerable experience in handling classified information, the Court of Appeal considers that he was grossly negligent."
Landerholm was sentenced to 80 day-fines of 650 kronor each, totalling 52,000 kronor.