Claes Borgström Explained

Claes Borgström
Birth Date:21 July 1944
Stockholm, Sweden
Birth Name:Claes Gustaf Borgström
Death Date:15 May 2020 (aged 75)
Stockholm, Sweden
Office:Equality Ombudsman
Termstart:2000
Termend:2007
Party:S (until 2013)
V (2013–2020)
Education:Stockholm University
(juris kandidat, 1974)
Profession:Advokat
Parents:Gustaf Borgström (father)
Relations:Annette Kullenberg (sister)
Kerstin Vinterhed (sister)

Claes Gustaf Borgström (21 July 1944 – 15 May 2020) was a Swedish lawyer and politician. He served as Equality Ombudsman (JämO) from 2000 until 2007. A member of the Social Democratic Party prior to 2013, he joined the Left Party in that year.

Education

Borgström earned a law degree (juris kandidat) from Stockholm University in 1974.[1]

Career

After earning his law degree, Borgström began working as a lawyer, taking several high-profile criminal cases.[2] Between 2000 and 2007, Borgström served the Swedish government as Equality Ombudsman (JämO). Borgström expressed his dislike of this job to his client Sture Bergwall. He described the job as boring, and he would not stay for the full tenancy.

After the defeat of the Social Democrats in the 2006 election, Borgström resigned to start a law firm together with former Social Democratic Minister of Justice Thomas Bodström.[3] Borgström himself had plans of becoming the Minister of Justice if the Social Democrats had won the election in 2010, according to his client Sture Bergwall. According to Bergwall, Borgström was quoted as saying of Bodström: "I have no high thoughts of Thomas Bodström. It is actually unimaginable how the current Minister of Justice was chosen for his post.[4] He is a shallow person."[5]

From 2008, Borgström was the Swedish Social Democratic Party's spokesperson on questions regarding gender equality.[6]

In a 2004 interview, Borgström stated that men carry a collective responsibility for violence against women, but emphasized the difference between collective responsibility and collective guilt. In this context, he voiced certain support for Gudrun Schyman's proposal of a "male tax" in order to pay for the costs of violence against women and other issues regarding gender equality.[7] He attracted attention in March 2006, when he demanded that Sweden boycott the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany "in protest against the increase in the trafficking of women that the event is expected to result in".[8]

In 2010, Borgström successfully appealed the decision to close the sexual assault case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, and became the legal representative of the two Swedish women against whom the Swedish police have accused Assange of sexual misconduct.[9] However, it seems the relationship soured, and he was replaced with Elisabeth Massi Fritz.[10]

In 2013, citing his dissatisfaction with what he referred to as the right-leaning changes in the Social Democratic Party, Borgström left the Social Democrats and joined Left Party.[11]

Personal life

Borgström was born in Stockholm. His father was Gustaf Borgström, CEO of Sveriges Köpmannaförbund ("Swedish Merchants' Association") from 1942 until 1957. Borgström is also the brother of journalists Annette Kullenberg and Kerstin Vinterhed.[12] He married his former colleague Märit Borgström (née Röger) in Mallorca in 2007.[13] He had three children from an earlier marriage.[14]

Borgström died in Stockholm on 15 May 2020, after developing COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden aged 75.[15] [16]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Advokat Claes Borgström . Borgström & Bodström advokatbyrå . 31 August 2010 . Swedish . https://web.archive.org/web/20100811005314/http://www.advbyra.se/lawyer.php?id=1 . 11 August 2010 . dead .
  2. News: Claes Borgström har avlidit. 15 May 2020. 15 May 2020. Svenska Dagbladet.
  3. News: Claes Borgström slutar som JämO . Gunnar . Sörbring . . 31 March 2007 . 31 August 2010 . Swedish . 7 December 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101207140251/http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/claes-borgstrom-slutar-som-jamo-1.538196 . dead .
  4. Web site: Claes Borgström har avlidit – Norran. www.norran.se. 15 May 2020.
  5. Web site: PARENTES. Mitt sista samtal med Claes Borgström. . Sture . Bergwall . 8 October 2012 . 19 October 2010 . Swedish.
  6. News: Döm sexköpare till fängelsestraff . Lova . Olsson . . 8 April 2008 . 31 August 2010 . Swedish.
  7. News: Så ska vi hjälpa kvinnorna . Aftonbladet. 1 November 2004 .
  8. Web site: Sida på JämOs webbplats. https://web.archive.org/web/20070928104547/http://www.jamombud.se/news/SverigebordrasigurFo.asp. dead. 28 September 2007. 15 May 2020.
  9. News: Lawyer for Women Accusing WikiLeaks Founder Maintains Charges of Sexual Misconduct . Mark . Hosenball . . 25 August 2010 . 7 December 2010.
  10. https://www.thelocal.se/20101219/30946 New details emerge about Assange accusers
  11. News: Claes Borgström går till Vänsterpartiet . . 9 November 2013 .
  12. Web site: Claes Borgström – advokat, Jämo. Aftonbladet. 6 July 2004 . 15 May 2020.
  13. News: Claes Borgström: "Jag spelade både fotboll och klippte klippdockor" . Åsa . Mattsson . . 4 July 2007 . 8 December 2010 . Swedish . https://web.archive.org/web/20101211104432/http://www.salongk.se/artiklar/import/2007/7/4/1320/index.xml . 11 December 2010 . dead .
  14. News: Jämt jämställd . Karin . Thunberg . . 29 November 2009 . 31 August 2010 . Swedish.
  15. News: Advokat Claes Borgström har avlidit. Larsson. Thomas. 15 May 2020. SVT Nyheter. 15 May 2020.
  16. Web site: Advokaten Claes Borgström död – blev 75 år gammal. Expressen. 15 May 2020 . 15 May 2020.