Stockholm Jails Four Over Brutal Hate Attacks Linked to White‑Supremacist 'Active Clubs'

Stockholm court imprisons four men for hate‑motivated assaults linked to 'Active Clubs'

Four Swedish men, aged 20 to 23, were sentenced on Tuesday to terms of three to three-and-a-half years in prison after a Stockholm court found them guilty of aggravated assault in a series of attacks on Aug. 27 that prosecutors said were motivated by racial hatred. The assaults left three men of foreign origin seriously injured, and the court linked the defendants to Aktivklubb Sverige (AKS), a group described as far‑right with explicit racist elements.

Prosecutors say the group first struck a Black man with an umbrella while shouting racial slurs. They later assaulted a man of Syrian origin, knocking him to the ground and repeatedly kicking him in the head until he lost consciousness and lost four teeth. Later that night, three of the four defendants assaulted another man on a subway train. The court said at least two of the men performed Hitler salutes during the incidents.

Evidence and victims' testimony

Investigators seized material from the defendants that prosecutors presented at trial, including notebooks marked with swastikas and stickers reading 'Love Sweden, Hate Islam.' Victims described lasting trauma and severe injuries. One subway victim told the court he felt 'intense hatred' during the attack and recalled being hit with full force. Another testified that the assailants moved and struck like people trained in combat sports.

'I was beaten severely ... I didn't even have time to think before he took a running start and hit me with full force,' the subway victim said in court.

The defendants denied the charges except for the final assault captured on security cameras; they maintained they acted in self‑defense.

Origins and spread of the 'Active Club' model

Swedish anti‑racism group Expo reports that 'Active Club' members are encouraged to direct violence outside the gym toward immigrants, feminists, Jewish people and LGBTQ communities. A report from the Swedish Center for Preventing Violent Extremism says members seek to 'regain their masculinity' through violence, fitness and tight male fraternities. Sweden's security service, Sapo, has warned that such groups present a radicalization risk for young men attracted to violent, far‑right ideology.

International watchdogs have traced the 'Active Club' model to networks in the United States. The Southern Poverty Law Center has reported that Patriot Front and other U.S. white‑nationalist groups have used Active Club networks for recruitment. The Anti‑Defamation League credits Robert Rundo, a Southern California white‑supremacist organizer, with popularizing the model through an 'Active Club Podcast' that urged listeners to form local chapters and promoted a decentralized 'white nationalism 3.0' approach. Rundo was arrested in Romania in 2023 following a U.S. extradition request on federal rioting charges and later received a two‑year sentence, with release recorded in December 2024.

Context: The court ruled that all convictions except a vandalism count (neo‑Nazi graffiti on store windows) carried hate‑crime motives. The case has renewed attention on the danger posed by gym‑based extremist networks and on the need for targeted prevention and law‑enforcement efforts to counter radicalization.