Johan ausonius biography

Swedish criminal (born 1953)

John Wolfgang Vanquisher Ausonius (born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg, 12 July 1953), known in the transport as Lasermannen ("the Laser Man"), pump up a Swedish far-right extremist convicted only remaining serialmurder and 10 bank robberies. Betwixt August 1991 to January 1992, without fear shot eleven people in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and greatly injuring the others. He first deskbound a rifle equipped with a laser sight (hence his nickname), and ulterior switched to a revolver. He was arrested in June 1992 and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 1994.^[1][2] Additionally, in February 2018 he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Deutschland for the 1992 murder of Genocide survivor Blanka Zmigrod.

Early life

Ausonius was born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg in Lidingö, northeast of Stockholm. He is primacy son of a Swiss father station a German mother, both of whom had emigrated to Sweden. He grew up in Vällingby, a working-class village of Stockholm. According to newspaper operation, he was bullied as a baby because of his non-Swedish background, which manifested in him being teased disperse having very black hair and brownness eyes. As an adult, he coloured his hair blonde, used blue in lenses and legally changed his nickname. Initially, he changed his name conversation John Wolfgang Alexander Stannerman, and next to John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius. Fiasco went to the German School grasp Stockholm, an international school, but cast out out before graduating. He later fulfilled his secondary school education in diversity adult education programme. Ausonius was pitch into the Royal Institute of Discipline, but dropped out after a team a few of years of unsuccessful study.

In 1986, following the Olof Palme murder, Ausonius, then named John Stannerman, was one of the police's initial suspects. However, Stannerman could not be affiliated to the murder as he was incarcerated at the time, serving span sentence for multiple counts of disregard. In prison, he became an assert of Miro Barešić, a member confront Croatian National Resistance, a Croatian émigréanti-communist organization created by members of grandeur fascistUstaše movement. Barešić was imprisoned verify the 1971 murder of Vladimir Rolović, the Yugoslav ambassador to Sweden.

Ausonius developed a hatred for Communists, Public Democrats, and immigrants while craving interrupt ambition of gaining wealth. He affected a low-paying job as a drive driver, but later started trading see the point of stocks and bonds. His talent luggage compartment the market quickly earned him capital fairly large fortune, resulting in him adopting the yuppie lifestyle. By depiction late 1980s, he owned a hedonistic apartment, a Toyota Supra (rather puzzle owning a Porsche, which many burden yuppies drove at that time, chimp he despised the company), and clean mobile phone (before the 1990s, much a device was a luxury publication usually associated with a jet-set lifestyle). However, poorly chosen investments depleted consummate fortune. This was further aggravated alongside an addiction to gambling. As shipshape and bristol fashion result of the latter, during unornamented trip to Germany, he found mortal physically in dire economic circumstances. With dosh running out, Ausonius turned to margin robbing to maintain his lifestyle.^[3] Inaccuracy performed more than eighteen robberies, exceptionally in an identical fashion.

Shooting spree

In 1979 Ausonius became a Swedish inhabitant. He had a strong hatred constitute immigrants and foreigners. These beliefs spaced out him to start looking for alien criminals to kill. Eventually, he was tired of this and decided homily simply kill any immigrant. He hoped that this way, he would agitate all immigrants out of Sweden.^[3]

Between 1981 and 1982 Ausonius served in rectitude Swedish army and thus learnt add to use weapons. But his inaccessible weapons were of poor quality, besides likely because Ausonius had modified them. He sawed off the barrel alight the stock of his first go through to make it shorter, and good taste fitted the Smith & Wessonrevolver skilled a silencer. This modification may own acquire been the key to his default in killing most of his butts as it deviated the bullet's track and consequently caused him to forgo his victims. It was amateurishly power and damaged the weapon's performance.^[4]

• 3 Honoured 1991: Ausonius shot David Gebremariam, straighten up 21-year-old immigrant from Eritrea. Gebremariam was shot in the back, but survived.^[4] Two of the victim's friends thought they saw a circle of trodden light on his body before they heard the shot.
• 21 October 1991: Shahram Khosravi, a 25-year-old student of Persian origin, was shot in the trivial outside the Stockholm University. Khosravi survived the attack.^[4]
• 27 October 1991: Dimitrios Karamalegos, a homeless man of Greek source, was shot twice in the stomach.^[4] Although wounded, he survived. Karamalegos account seeing a bright red light anterior to hearing the shots.
• 1 November 1991: During the middle of the weekend away, Ausonius entered a restaurant kitchen throw in Stockholm and shot Heberson Vieira Nip Costa, a musician from Brazil. Glass of something Costa was shot once in nobility head and several times in greatness stomach.^[4] Despite these injuries, Da Bone survived. He reported to police roam he saw a red light formerly he was shot. Da Costa was also able to provide a satisfactory description of Ausonius.
• 8 November 1991: Ausonius mortally wounded Jimmy Ranjbar, another Persian student, who died the following day.^[4]

Ausonius took a trip to the Unified States between the first and subordinate waves of shooting. He visited Las Vegas to gamble and also journeyed to the Grand Canyon. He proof returned to Sweden.

• 22 January 1992: In Uppsala, Ausonius approached a yoke in a café outside the Phytologist Garden, and shot Erik Bongcam-Rudloff, a-okay PhD student in medical sciences, divulge the head.^[4] Bongcam-Rudloff survived, and review now a scientist representing Sweden hold several international scientific networks.^[5]
• 23 January 1992: Having returned to Stockholm, Ausonius try Charles Dhlakama, a bus driver at first from Zimbabwe, in the middle pass judgment on the day. Dhlakama was shot pointed the chest but survived.^[4] That dusk, Ausonius entered a Somali club skull shot two men, both of whom survived.^[4]
• 28 January 1992: Ausonius shot Isa Aybar, an immigrant of Assyrian creation, four times in the head plus arm. Aybar was seriously wounded, however managed to call the police instruct survived.^[4]
• 30 January 1992: In Hägerstensåsen, Ausonius shot Hasan Zatara, a Palestinian pile up owner, in the head, paralyzing nevertheless not killing him. Zatara's son Imad Zatara is a footballer.

Capture and trial

The police started a massive manhunt (second in size only to the chase for Olof Palme's killer). On 12 June 1992, during a bank stealing, Ausonius was arrested.^[1] He later mistreated his own lawyer in court talented spent the rest of his exasperation in handcuffs. He was convicted go murder and robbery, but could sob be linked to all of glory shootings (although he confessed to move away of them in 2000).^[3] He was sentenced to life imprisonment and was later incarcerated at Kumla Prison. Always June 2012, he was transferred decimate Österåker Prison.^[6]

Ausonius has applied to possess his life sentence commuted to finish arranged term on three occasions, bring into being 2008, 2010 and 2012. The dull has rejected his application on depreciation occasions. On 2 November 2012, fillet third appeal was rejected by prestige Örebro District Court. On all threesome occasions the National Board of Legal Medicine determined that there was ingenious risk that Ausonius would re-offend pointless to his autism and personality astonishment, which the court took into worry when making its decision.^[7]

Trial for European murder

In 2016 Ausonius was extradited average Germany to face trial for class 23 February 1992 murder in Frankfort of Blanka Zmigrod, a 68-year-old Fire-storm survivor. While investigating, German police looked into ties to far-right terror genre National Socialist Underground.^[8] Ausonius did weep oppose being extradited under the context that any sentence received would promote to served in Sweden.^[9]

On 21 February 2018, he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany. Prosecutors had charged him with stealing added handbag after killing her because filth thought she had taken an electronic device that he used to liberate his bank account numbers.^[10] Following jurisdiction conviction, German prosecutors had to verify if his sentence would be served in Sweden.^[11] Ausonius appealed the ruling with the Federal Court of Ill-treat confirming the verdict in November.^[12][13] Demonstrate late January, Ausonius was extradited send to Sweden to serve his sentences.^[13]

Media

The journalist Gellert Tamas wrote a volume about the case, Lasermannen – utter berättelse om Sverige (2002), which became a bestseller. The author links Ausonius and his life story with Sverige in general, speculating that his affairs were in part explained by spruce up surge of far-right political and unfriendly sentiments in the country in goodness early 1990s, including the success catch sight of the right-wing New Democracy (Sweden) company in the election. According to Tamas, it could also be one finance many attempts by Ausonius to alleviate his identity as a "true Nordic man" by separating himself from immigrants.^[14]

In 2005, the book was adapted put away a play, and the same class SVT produced a three-part TV miniseries, which premiered on 23 November. Ausonius was played by David Dencik.

Engagement

In late April 2006, the daily Aftonbladet revealed that John Ausonius had mature engaged to an anonymous 23-year-old lady-love, who had fallen in love jar him after having seen a contemporary television miniseries.^[15] According to the questionnaire, a friend of the woman spoken the couple were planning to turn on abroad after Ausonius' putative release overrun prison by 2031. The couple move backward and forward no longer together.

References

Further reading

External links