The US had a secret surveillance group in Oslo

[Magda Hassan]

Sweden opens probe of US embassy surveillance


By Reuters
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010 -- 11:13 am
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Sweden is investigating to see whether the US embassy has committed any crime by carrying out surveillance measures, the prosecutor's office said on Monday in a case similar to one that has blown up in neighboring Norway.
The probe to see if illegal intelligence gathering has taken place was launched after the Swedish Security Police at the weekend confirmed the US embassy had a surveillance system in place since 2000, without informing the local authorities.
The Swedish office of public prosecution said in a statement that a preliminary probe had been opened to see whether the US measures constituted a crime and to see who had carried out such a crime, if one had been committed.
"The investigation concerns American measures to protect the US embassy in Stockholm and American personnel," the statement said.
The US embassy in Stockholm said in a statement at the weekend that it did have a program to detect suspicious activities around its facilities. It said the system was neither secret nor an intelligence program.

The issue first came up in Norway last week when television network TV2 reported that a team of US agents and retired Norwegian security officers had been conducting illegal systematic surveillance from a base near the US embassy in Oslo.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry has said it is seeking an explanation from the US side.
(Reporting by Patrick Lannin; Editing by Charles Dick)
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/swede...veillance/

Bet they don't drop the Assange investigation though.....

Sweden drops case against American embassy

The American embassy in Stockholm. Photo: Ingvar Karmhed / SVD / SCANPIX


Sweden is ending its investigation against the American embassy for its alleged surveillance of people outside the diplomatic area in Stockholm.

Publicerat måndag 4 april 2011 kl 11:43

Dela

Swedish chief prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand said the reason for dropping the case is because it is not possible to prove that a crime was committed.
Swedish Radio news reports that the investigation was difficult, because many who were suspected for carrying out the surveillance chose not to cooperate, citing professional secrecy when it comes to the embassies.
Media reports in the fall indicated that the American authorities and embassies have been keeping watch over some people in Sweden, Norway and other countries since 2000.
Swedish justice minister, Beatrice Ask, said at that time that she was not aware of the surveillance. And the opposiition went to the standing committee on the Constitution for answers.
"We have not received access to the American embassy's archive," Linstrand told Swedish Radio news. "The Vienna Convention says that embassy archives are inviolable. So, there's a lack of knowledge, in part when it comes to hearings with certain people, and in part when it comes to what's in the archive. So, the investigation is simply coming to a stop."
But media reports hint that while the matter has been dropped by Swedish legal authorities, it may now become a question for Swedish politicians to pursue.

https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.as...el=4437012