A 61-year-old Swedish man has gone on trial accused of coercing his wife into providing sexual services to more than 120 men.
The man is alleged to have used the remoteness of their farm near Kramfors in northern Sweden, as well as surveillance cameras and drugs, to force her to perform sexual acts with men he had found online.
He denies wrongdoing and alleges the encounters were consensual – all he had done was help organise them.
The trial has already drawn international attention and is being compared by some to that of Frenchman Dominique Pelicot, who was found to have drugged and let other men rape his then-wife Gisèle over a period of nine years.
The trial began in Härnösand, a small town on Sweden’s eastern coast, on Friday, with the defendant reportedly remaining completely still as the charges against him were read out.
The court then moved into a closed session to protect the identity of the alleged victim, who has not been identified and has since divorced her husband.
The former husband has not been identified either, save for his age.
According to the charges, he started forcing his wife to have sexual relations with men who travelled to their home from across the country in exchange for payment in 2022 – and only ceased when she filed a police report in October 2025.
Earlier this year, he was charged with numerous crimes – including several counts of rape, attempted rape and assault.
Prosecutors will seek to show in court that he plied the woman with drugs to push her limits, and used their secluded home and her limited network of contacts to exert control over her.
Before the trial began, prosecutor Ida Annerstedt told Swedish daily Expressen that the now-former husband had “exploited her particularly vulnerable situation” and “fear of him” to normalise his coercive behaviour.
The man also stands accused of using surveillance cameras in their home to control her, which sometimes captured sexual encounters. The footage from these will be submitted as evidence in the trial.
He threatened to kill his wife, pour petrol on her, burn her and cut off her fingers, public broadcaster SVT reports, citing the indictment lodged by prosecutors.
Though 120 men have been identified by Swedish authorities, so far only 28 have been charged in relation to the case. Most are said to have denied the allegations against them, saying they either did not have sex with the woman or did not pay for it.
Online chats and payments, as well as calendar entries, are reportedly among pieces of evidence prosecutors intend to use.
Defence lawyer Martina Michaelsdotter Olsson told SVT as the trial began that her client did not recognise “the same picture as the one the prosecutor presents”.
The trial is due to last 14 days.
