the strategies behind the reactions and the counterstrategies There is a Swedish parallel. In 1834 the poet, dramatist, and journalist Anders Lindeberg was tried for and found guilty of lese-majesty against the king Karl XIVJohan. The only possible sentence was death, but through a pardon it was generally transformed into a few years in prison, for Lindeberg three years. He, however, even before the trial, had stated that he would not accept any pardon. He thought it would transform the case and him also into a farce, which he did not approve of. Therefore, he welcomed his coming beheading and also forbade his relatives to apply for a pardon. When a pardon was issued regardless, he refused to accept it and asked when he would die. Lindebergs position was legally very strong as § 25 in the constitutional lawRegeringsformenof 1809 stated: ”På den brottslige skall sedermera ankomma att emottaga den nåd, konungen honom förunnat, eller undergå det straff, vartill han blivit dömd.”822 The government eventually solved the problem through constructing an amnesty, promulgated October 20th 1834, for the few accused or sentenced for political crimes. Lindeberg, still insisting on his execution, is said to eventually had been fooled to leave the gaol and then denied entry.823 Lindeberg probably did not want to die but to make a political statement. In that he succeeded. However, it might be worth considering that Lindeberg in his authorship earlier had written quite critical about an execution in Stockholm 1827.824 The subject was thus not unfamiliar for him. Particularly the English situation and debate deliver material for an interpretation of executions as hardly driven by the authorities. Rather the forces forming the development were those present, and in particu822 ’Later it is up to the criminal to receive the mercy given to him by the king or endure the penalty he has been sentenced to.’ Naumann 1880 p 176. This rule had not been in the preceding version of the law from 1772. 823 Lindeberg 1918 p 87 sqq particularly p 96 sq, 101, 103 sqq, 113, 116 sqq, 122 sqq, SFS1834: 31. At least another incident of the same type has occurred. Until 1861 according to a rule in the law of 1734 an attack on a official of the state would be punished by death. A woman had slapped a chief of police, been sentenced according to the law, and eventually a judge of the supreme court came to prison to try to persuade her to seek mercy. RD1862-63R o A V:445, 447. Probably she did as an execution or a solution like that for Lindeberg would reasonably be well-known. 824 Lindeberg 1835 p 35 sqq. 232
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