Swedish justice announced Thursday to drop the proceedings against a 70-year-old mother, a time suspected of having kidnapped her son for 28 years, the latter not having been held against his will, the prosecution ruled.
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“We have not found any evidence that he was locked up, tied up or physically prevented from leaving the scene,” said Emma Olsson, prosecutor in charge of the investigation.
“The man himself said it was up to him to decide if he wanted to leave the apartment,” she added, adding that witnesses had occasionally seen him outside.
On Monday, the septuagenarian, who lived with her 41-year-old son in an apartment in the southern suburbs of Stockholm, was arrested on suspicion of “illegal deprivation of liberty” and of “causing serious bodily harm”.
She was then released on Wednesday in the face of suspicion deemed “weakened” by the prosecution.
The man had been discovered by his sister, who had not seen him for 20 years, in the apartment, described as filled with rubbish and a lot of dirt.
The woman claimed the mother took her brother out of school at 12 and isolated him from the outside world for 28 years.
According to the Aftonbladet and Expressen newspapers, the son had infected wounds, was malnourished and had lost almost all of his teeth.
According to the prosecution, medical examinations also showed no signs of violence.
“Wounds are due to disease, wounds that have become infected,” said Emma Olsson.
Social services are now investigating the case, particularly reports that the son was taken out of school at a young age before being isolated.
“One can wonder about her aptitude to be a mother, but it is now for social services to look into this question”, indicated the prosecutor.
“Society must now help this man, and this woman too. And to make sure that we can prevent this kind of thing from happening again, ”she added.