John Ausonius
Encyclopedia
John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius (born 12 July 1953), known in the media as Lasermannen ("the Laser Man") is a Swedish
convicted murder
er, bank robber
, and attempted serial killer
. From August 1991 to January 1992 he shot eleven people in the Stockholm
and Uppsala
area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and seriously injuring the others. He first used a rifle equipped with a laser sight (hence, his nickname), and later switched to a revolver
. He was arrested in June 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment
in January 1994.
east of Stockholm
, Sweden
, the son of a Swiss father and a German
mother who had both immigrated to Sweden. He grew up in Vällingby
, a working class
suburb
of Stockholm. According to newspaper reports, he was bullied as a child because of his non-Swedish background, which manifested in him being teased for having very black hair and brown eyes. As an adult, he bleached his hair blonde, used blue contact lenses and legally changed his name, first to John Wolfgang Alexander Stannerman, and later to John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius to disguise his non-Swedish surname. He went to the German school in Stockholm, a private school, but dropped out before graduating. He later completed his secondary school education in an adult education programme and managed to get accepted to the Royal Institute of Technology
, but dropped out after a couple of years of unsuccessful study. Ausonius is known to be a movie-fan, his favourite movies were the Monty Python
films, especially Life of Brian
; also, more in tune with his crimes, he liked Death Wish
, a movie he rented many times and rewatched often. Swedish media wrote about the possibility that Ausonius's first plan to only kill immigrants who were criminals came from watching this movie.
Following the Olof Palme assassination
in 1986, Ausonius, then named John Stannerman, was one of the police’s initial suspects for the murder. However, Stannerman could not be linked to the murder since he was in prison, serving a multiple-count assault sentence, the night Palme was shot. In prison he also got to know the Ustasa-terrorist Miro Baresic
, who was sentenced to life in Sweden after he and his friend shot a Yugoslavian ambassador in Stockholm to death. Ausonius looked up to Baresic and had him tell everything about his life of war and terrorism.
As an adult, he espoused hatred for Communists
, Social Democrats
, and immigrants
, and dreamed about getting rich. At the time he was working a low-paying job as a taxi
-driver, but started trading in stocks
and bonds
. He had a talent for the market and quickly earned a fairly large fortune. He adopted the yuppie
life-style, and by the late 80's he not only had a luxurious apartment, a Japanese sports car (a Toyota Supra — he despised the Porsche
that many other yuppies drove at that time), but also a mobile phone
, which before the 90's was a luxury item usually associated with jet-set lifestyle. However, poorly chosen investments depleted his fortune, and when he became addicted to gambling on a trip to Germany
, he found himself in dire economic circumstances. He turned to robbing banks to maintain his lifestyle. He performed more than eighteen robberies, all in almost identical fashion.
Ausonius, who had become a Swedish citizen in 1979, had a strong hatred for immigrants and foreigners, and so started to look for immigrant criminals to kill. Eventually he got tired of this and decided to simply kill an immigrant, any immigrant, which he hoped would scare them all out of the country.
Victims:
Ausonius then went to Las Vegas
to gamble and visit the Grand Canyon
. The Laser Man disappeared for a few months, but he would return.
Ausonius is also the main suspect for murdering a Jewish woman on 23 February 1992, in Frankfurt, Germany
. But the investigation by German police has been dropped and Ausonius will probably never be linked to this crime.
Having been in the army between 1981–1982, Ausonius knew how to use a weapon. However, his guns were of poor quality, very likely because Ausonius had modified them himself. He sawed off both the barrel and the stock of his first rifle to make it shorter, and he fitted the Smith & Wesson
revolver
with a silencer
. This modification may have been the key to his failures in killing most of his victims as it deviated the bullet's trajectory and consequently caused him to miss his victims. It was amateurishly done and damaged the weapon's performance.
The police started a massive manhunt
(second in size only to the hunt for Olof Palme
's killer) and Ausonius was arrested during a bank robbery on 12 June 1992. He later assault
ed his own lawyer
in court and spent the rest of his trial
in handcuffs
. He was convicted of murder and robbery, but could not be linked to all of the shootings (although he confessed to all of them in 2000). He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and is serving it in Kumla Prison
.
On 21 December, 2010, the Örebro District Court rejected John Ausonius's application to have his life sentence commuted to a fixed term.
wrote a book about the case, Lasermannen - en berättelse om Sverige (2002), which became a bestseller
. The book, which is very detailed, was published without consulting the victims first. The author's personal opinions not only deals with Ausonius and his life story, but also with Sweden in general, speculating that Ausonius actions were in part explained by a surge of xenophobic
sentiments in the country in the early 1990s, including the success of the Ny Demokrati
right-wing party in the election.
In 2005, the book was adapted into a play, and the same year SVT
produced a three-part TV miniseries
, which premiered on 23 November. Ausonius was played by David Dencik
.
revealed that John Ausonius had become engaged to an anonymous 23 year old woman, who had fallen in love with him after having seen a recent television miniseries. According to the paper, a friend of the woman said the couple were planning to move abroad after Ausonius' putative release from prison by 2031. The couple are now no longer together.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
convicted murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
er, bank robber
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
, and attempted serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. From August 1991 to January 1992 he shot eleven people in the Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and seriously injuring the others. He first used a rifle equipped with a laser sight (hence, his nickname), and later switched to a revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
. He was arrested in June 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
in January 1994.
History
Ausonius was born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg in LidingöLidingö
Lidingö is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, located north east of central Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. It is also the seat of Lidingö Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 44,000 inhabitants in 2011....
east of Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, the son of a Swiss father and a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
mother who had both immigrated to Sweden. He grew up in Vällingby
Vällingby
Vällingby is a suburban district in Västerort in the north-western part of Stockholm Municipality, Sweden.Vällingby was planned in the early 1950s as a new town...
, a working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Stockholm. According to newspaper reports, he was bullied as a child because of his non-Swedish background, which manifested in him being teased for having very black hair and brown eyes. As an adult, he bleached his hair blonde, used blue contact lenses and legally changed his name, first to John Wolfgang Alexander Stannerman, and later to John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius to disguise his non-Swedish surname. He went to the German school in Stockholm, a private school, but dropped out before graduating. He later completed his secondary school education in an adult education programme and managed to get accepted to the Royal Institute of Technology
Royal Institute of Technology
The Royal Institute of Technology is a university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH was founded in 1827 as Sweden's first polytechnic and is one of Scandinavia's largest institutions of higher education in technology. KTH accounts for one-third of Sweden’s technical research and engineering education...
, but dropped out after a couple of years of unsuccessful study. Ausonius is known to be a movie-fan, his favourite movies were the Monty Python
Monty Python
Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...
films, especially Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Monty Python's Life of Brian, also known as Life of Brian, is a 1979 British comedy film written, directed and largely performed by the Monty Python comedy team...
; also, more in tune with his crimes, he liked Death Wish
Death Wish (film)
Death Wish is a 1974 crime thriller film loosely based on the novel Death Wish by Brian Garfield. The film was directed by Michael Winner and stars Charles Bronson as Paul Kersey, a man who becomes a vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter is sexually assaulted by muggers.The film was...
, a movie he rented many times and rewatched often. Swedish media wrote about the possibility that Ausonius's first plan to only kill immigrants who were criminals came from watching this movie.
Following the Olof Palme assassination
Olof Palme assassination
The assassination of Olof Palme , the Prime Minister of Sweden, took place on 28 February 1986 in Stockholm, Sweden, at 23:21 hours Central European Time . Palme was fatally wounded by gunshots while walking home from a cinema with his wife Lisbet Palme on the central Stockholm street Sveavägen...
in 1986, Ausonius, then named John Stannerman, was one of the police’s initial suspects for the murder. However, Stannerman could not be linked to the murder since he was in prison, serving a multiple-count assault sentence, the night Palme was shot. In prison he also got to know the Ustasa-terrorist Miro Baresic
Miro Barešic
Miro Barešić was a terrorist, Croatian nationalist militant convicted for the murder of the Yugoslavian ambassador to Sweden in 1971 and later released as a demand made in the hijacking of a Scandinavian Airlines domestic flight.-Early life:Miro Barešić was born on 10 September 1950 in Šibenik,...
, who was sentenced to life in Sweden after he and his friend shot a Yugoslavian ambassador in Stockholm to death. Ausonius looked up to Baresic and had him tell everything about his life of war and terrorism.
As an adult, he espoused hatred for Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, Social Democrats
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
, and immigrants
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
, and dreamed about getting rich. At the time he was working a low-paying job as a taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
-driver, but started trading in stocks
Stocks
Stocks are devices used in the medieval and colonial American times as a form of physical punishment involving public humiliation. The stocks partially immobilized its victims and they were often exposed in a public place such as the site of a market to the scorn of those who passed by...
and bonds
Bond (finance)
In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...
. He had a talent for the market and quickly earned a fairly large fortune. He adopted the yuppie
Yuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...
life-style, and by the late 80's he not only had a luxurious apartment, a Japanese sports car (a Toyota Supra — he despised the Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....
that many other yuppies drove at that time), but also a mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
, which before the 90's was a luxury item usually associated with jet-set lifestyle. However, poorly chosen investments depleted his fortune, and when he became addicted to gambling on a trip to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, he found himself in dire economic circumstances. He turned to robbing banks to maintain his lifestyle. He performed more than eighteen robberies, all in almost identical fashion.
Ausonius, who had become a Swedish citizen in 1979, had a strong hatred for immigrants and foreigners, and so started to look for immigrant criminals to kill. Eventually he got tired of this and decided to simply kill an immigrant, any immigrant, which he hoped would scare them all out of the country.
Victims:
- On 3 August 1991, the Laser Man shot his first person. The victim was David Gebremariam, a 21-year-old immigrant to Sweden from EritreaEritreaEritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
, whom Ausonius shot in the back. The victim, however, survived. Two of the victim's friends said they saw a circle of red light on his body before they heard the shot.
- On the evening of 21 October 1991, outside the Stockholm UniversityStockholm UniversityStockholm University is a state university in Stockholm, Sweden. It has over 28,000 students at four faculties, making it one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is also frequently regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world...
, Shahram Khosravi, a 25-year-old student of IranIranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian origin, was shot in the face but survived. - On the night of 27 October 1991, Dimitrios Karamalegos, a homelessHomelessnessHomelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...
man of GreekGreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
origin was shot twice in the stomach. The victim saw a bright red light, heard the shots but managed to run away. Although wounded, he survived. - In the middle of the day of 1 November 1991, Ausonius walked into a restaurant kitchen in Stockholm where he had seen an immigrant and shot him once in the head and several times in the stomach. The victim, Heberson Vieira Da Costa, a musician from BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, saw a red light before he was shot, and got a good look at his assailant. The victim survived, seriously wounded, but was able to give a description of the Laser Man to the police. - Ausonius continued his shootings and, on 8 November 1991, he mortally wounded Jimmy Ranjbar, another Iranian student, who died the next day.
Ausonius then went to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
to gamble and visit the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
. The Laser Man disappeared for a few months, but he would return.
- On 22 January 1992, Ausonius went to UppsalaUppsala- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, where he walked up to a couple, and shot the man in the head. The victim, Erik Bongcam-RudloffErik Bongcam-RudloffErik Bongcam-Rudloff is a Chilean-born Swedish biologist and computer scientist. He received his doctorate in medical sciences from Uppsala University in 1994. , he is an Associate Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. His main research deals with mammalian promoters...
, was a Ph.D.Ph.D.A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
student in medical sciences. He survived and is now a scientist representing Sweden in several international scientific networks. - 23 January 1992, back in Stockholm, Ausonius shot Charles Dhlakama, a black bus driver, originally from ZimbabweZimbabweZimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, in the middle of the day. The victim was shot in the chest but survived. That evening, Ausonius walked into a SomaliSomaliaSomalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
club in central Stockholm and shot two men, both of whom also survived. - On the night of 28 January 1992, Ausonius walked up to a kiosk where Isa Aybar, an immigrant of TurkishTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
origin, was working. Ausonius shot him four times in the head and arm, and walked away. Aybar was seriously wounded but managed to call the police and survived. - On 30 January 1992 Ausonius shot Hasan Zatara in the head, a PalestinianPalestinian peopleThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
store owner, in HägerstensåsenHägerstensåsenHägerstensåsen is a suburb located 7 km southwest of Stockholm, Sweden.-References:...
, paralyzingParalysisParalysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
but not killing him.
Ausonius is also the main suspect for murdering a Jewish woman on 23 February 1992, in Frankfurt, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. But the investigation by German police has been dropped and Ausonius will probably never be linked to this crime.
Having been in the army between 1981–1982, Ausonius knew how to use a weapon. However, his guns were of poor quality, very likely because Ausonius had modified them himself. He sawed off both the barrel and the stock of his first rifle to make it shorter, and he fitted the Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world...
revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
with a silencer
Suppressor
A suppressor, sound suppressor, sound moderator, or silencer, is a device attached to or part of the barrel of a firearm which reduces the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon....
. This modification may have been the key to his failures in killing most of his victims as it deviated the bullet's trajectory and consequently caused him to miss his victims. It was amateurishly done and damaged the weapon's performance.
The police started a massive manhunt
Manhunt (law enforcement)
In law enforcement, a manhunt is a search for a dangerous fugitive involving the use of all available police units and technology and sometimes help from the public....
(second in size only to the hunt for Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
's killer) and Ausonius was arrested during a bank robbery on 12 June 1992. He later assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
ed his own lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
in court and spent the rest of his trial
Trial (law)
In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...
in handcuffs
Handcuffs
Handcuffs are restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists close together. They comprise two parts, linked together by a chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each half has a rotating arm which engages with a ratchet that prevents it from being opened once closed around a person's wrist...
. He was convicted of murder and robbery, but could not be linked to all of the shootings (although he confessed to all of them in 2000). He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and is serving it in Kumla Prison
Kumla prison
Kumla prison is a prison facility in Kumla Municipality, Sweden. It was opened in 1965 and is one of the country's biggest prisons. Kumla is one of three high security prisons in Sweden holding risk inmates . On March 18, 2009, a new supermax facility was opened inside the Kumla Prison.-References :...
.
On 21 December, 2010, the Örebro District Court rejected John Ausonius's application to have his life sentence commuted to a fixed term.
Media
The journalist Gellert TamasGellert Tamas
Gellert Tamas is a Swedish journalist and writer. He is of Hungarian origin.Tamas has worked for Dagens Nyheter, Sweden’s leading daily newspaper, and as a journalist for TV4....
wrote a book about the case, Lasermannen - en berättelse om Sverige (2002), which became a bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
. The book, which is very detailed, was published without consulting the victims first. The author's personal opinions not only deals with Ausonius and his life story, but also with Sweden in general, speculating that Ausonius actions were in part explained by a surge of xenophobic
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
sentiments in the country in the early 1990s, including the success of the Ny Demokrati
New Democracy (Sweden)
New Democracy was a political party in Sweden, founded in 1991 and elected into the Swedish Parliament in its first election, falling equally fast out again in 1994....
right-wing party in the election.
In 2005, the book was adapted into a play, and the same year SVT
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
produced a three-part TV miniseries
Lasermannen (TV series)
Lasermannen was a Swedish television series produced by SVT Drama, based on the bestselling book Lasermannen - en berättelse om Sverige by Gellert Tamas, which is based on the Lasermannen events.-Cast:*David Dencik - John Ausonius...
, which premiered on 23 November. Ausonius was played by David Dencik
David Dencik
David Dencik is a Swedish actor.After having had minor roles in different films, David Dencik became an established actor in Sweden for his role as the killer John Ausonius in the three-part TV mini-series Lasermannen in 2005...
.
Engagement
In late April 2006, the daily AftonbladetAftonbladet
Aftonbladet is a Swedish tabloid founded by Lars Johan Hierta in 1830 during the modernization of Sweden. It is one of the larger daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. Aftonbladet is owned by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and Norwegian media group Schibsted, and its editorial page...
revealed that John Ausonius had become engaged to an anonymous 23 year old woman, who had fallen in love with him after having seen a recent television miniseries. According to the paper, a friend of the woman said the couple were planning to move abroad after Ausonius' putative release from prison by 2031. The couple are now no longer together.