Thomas Bodström

Infobox_Politician


name =Thomas Bodström
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birth_date =birth date and age|1962|4|9
birth_place =Uppsala, Sweden
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office = Minister for Justice
term_start =2000
term_end =2006
predecessor = Laila Freivalds
successor = Beatrice Ask
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party = Social Democratic Party
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occupation = politician, lawyer, footballer
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Thomas Lennart Bodström was the Swedish Minister for Justice from 2000 to 2006. Since October 2006 he is the chairman of the Riksdags committee for justice. He is working also as chairman of children's rights organisation ECPAT Sweden.

Thomas Bodström is the son of Lennart Bodström, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs 1982-1985 in the Olof Palme government. In his youth, however, Thomas Bodström was not involved in party politics. Instead, his first brush with media attention came as a football player in AIK, a team in the Premier Division of the Swedish Football league, 1987-1989. In 1990 he graduated from Stockholm University with a Bachelor of Laws degree. After that, he worked as a lawyer for ten years. During his career he took interest in international affairs and in 1999 he joined the board of the Swedish branch of the international organisation Lawyers Without Borders.

However, when former Prime Minister Göran Persson announced his new cabinet appointment on October 11, 2000, Bodström was a completely unknown face to most of the political journalists attending the press conference. At the time, he was not even a member of the Social Democratic party. Although Bodström was unaccustomed to national politics at the time, he has managed to keep his job despite calls for his resignation, especially loudly voiced after several high profile prison escapes during the summer of 2004.

After being appointed as Minister for Justice, he was elected to the Swedish Parliament, the Riksdag, in the 2002 Swedish parliamentary election. This could be regarded as a purely formal exercise, his seat immediately taken over by a substitute.

He has written a book, "700 dagar i Rosenbad" (700 days in Rosenbad), about his experiences as a newcomer in the government.

Controversy

At the time of his appointment, Bodström revealed in an interview that he had used hashish in his youth and also that he at several occasions had employed a person in his home without paying the appropriate taxes. [cite news|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/0010/14/bodstrom.html|title=Han har prövat hasch och haft svart hemhjälp|publisher=Aftonbladet|date=14 October 2000]

During his term in office, Bodström has been heavily criticisedFact|date=February 2007 by advocates of privacy as he is said to have worked towards giving the police the possibility of monitoring people that might be involved in minor crimes, as well as other things that can be seen as intrusive to privacy.

The raid of 31 May 2006 on The Pirate Bay ISP PRQ is thought to be largely his doing; as a result he is now the subject of an investigation by the Constitutional Committee. The 'interference' in the independent working of the business of authorities such as the police, called 'ministerstyre' (minister rule), is strictly forbidden in Swedish law. (Former cabinet member Laila Freivalds was also found guilty of 'ministerstyre' and was forced to resign.)

Bibliography

*(2004) "700 dagar i Rosenbad", Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag, ISBN 9185015156.

References

Persondata
NAME= Bodström, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= politician, lawyer, footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=9 April 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH=Uppsala, Sweden
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=