Far-right Swede jailed for plotting Eurovision attack

KAJ from Sweden performs the song "Bara Bada Bastu" during the Grand Final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, in Basel, Switzerland, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Luxembourg, Luxembourg -- A court in Luxembourg on Thursday handed a Swedish white supremacist a two-year jail sentence for plotting several “terrorist” attacks, including against the Eurovision Song Contest.

Alexander H., who was a minor when most of the offences were committed, was arrested in February 2020 at his home in Luxembourg as he was preparing to carry out an attack against the glitzy event being staged in Rotterdam, prosecutors said.

That edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, scheduled for March 2020, was ultimately cancelled at the last minute due to the coronavirus pandemic.

When the suspect was arrested, investigators discovered a bomb-making workshop in the basement of his house and computer messages suggesting that he was preparing to carry out several attacks.

He was accused of being a “member of terrorist groups aligned with the ideology of white supremacism,” a statement from Luxembourg’s judicial services said.

It said he had “planned attacks targeting various possible locations, both on Luxembourg soil and abroad.”

In total, the court handed out an eight-year sentence but said six would be suspended and the man would have to undergo deradicalization courses.

The convict currently lives in Sweden with his mother and will not go to jail immediately if an appeal is filed.

AFP