The parents of five-year-old John Walter filed a complaint against Sweden at the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday. They are supported by Centrum för rättvisa after Swedish courts cleared Falu municipality of responsibility for the boy's death.
It was in May 2021 that Falu municipality placed John Walter at an HVB home in Hagfors. Just over two weeks later he drowned in the nearby Uvån river after running away from the facility.
Falu municipality was cleared of responsibility both in the district court and the court of appeal. In March 2026 the Supreme Court announced that the case would not be heard.
On Wednesday the parents, with help from Centrum för rättvisa, submitted the complaint. Fredrik Bergman Evans, head of Centrum för rättvisa, said it is a major failure of the Swedish justice system that no one could be held responsible.
The parents hope for recognition of the municipality's shortcomings and a guiding ruling on responsibility when children are taken into care.
