Laila Freivalds (born 22 June 1942) is a Swedish

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

politician who served as Minister for Justice from 1988 to 1991 and again from 1994 to 2000, as

Minister for Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral re ...

from 2003 to 2006 and as

Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden The deputy prime minister of Sweden () is the deputy head of government of Sweden. The incumbent deputy prime minister is Ebba Busch. The Swedish constitution allows the prime minister to appoint one of the ministers in the cabinet as deputy p ...

briefly in 2004. Freivalds was born in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and escaped to Sweden with her family. She graduated with a

Candidate of Law Candidate ( or ) is the name of various academic degrees, which are today mainly awarded in Scandinavia. The degree title was phased out in much of Europe through the 1999 Bologna Process, which has re-formatted academic degrees in Europe. The de ...

(''juris kandidat'') from

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in 1970, after which she served in the Swedish Court System until 1976. From 1976 onwards she held senior posts at the Swedish Consumer Agency, before being appointed Minister for Justice in 1988. With the exception of the years 1991–1994, when her party was in opposition, she continued to hold that office until she resigned in 2000 over a controversy in which she was criticised, as a private individual, for trying to convert her

tenancy A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

into a

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

, circumventing a controversial

housing tenure Housing tenure is a financial arrangement and ownership structure under which someone has the right to live in a house or apartment. The most frequent forms are tenancy, in which rent is paid by the occupant to a landlord, and owner-occupancy, ...

law that she was responsible for introducing and advocating in her public role as Minister of Justice. Since this scandal, her relations with the press have been strained. Following the assassination of Swedish Foreign Minister

Anna Lindh Ylva Anna Maria Lindh (19 June 1957 – 11 September 2003) was a Swedish politician and lawyer. A member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 until her death. She was also a Member of the ...

on 11 September 2003, Freivalds was asked to succeed her as

Events leading to the resignation in 2006

Laila Freivalds was severely criticised in the Swedish press for the way the

Swedish Government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and their cabinet ministers (). The Government is responsible for its actions ...

handled the

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the sci ...

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, and has admitted that her ministry "Ought to have reacted much more strongly as early as

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

instead of waiting for more information." In addition, she was heavily criticised for going to the theatre on 26 December 2004, the day of the tsunami disaster, and for stating that she does not listen to the news when she is not working. On 21 March 2006, she resigned from her office as minister of foreign affairs, after it was confirmed that she lied to media about her involvement in the closing of a website belonging to the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

, in the wake of the

Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy The Muhammad cartoons controversy (or Muhammad cartoons crisis, ) began after the Danish newspaper published twelve editorial cartoons on 30 September 2005 depicting Muhammad, the founder of Islam, in what it said was a response to the deb ...

. During the controversy the Sweden Democrats published a similar cartoon on their web pages, only to be shut down shortly after by their

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

. It was initially discovered that the government had been in contact with the provider and suggested to them the closure, but Freivalds maintained to the media that a subordinate had done so without her knowledge. ''Offentlighetsprincipen'' (The Principle of Public Access) – a freedom of information provision enshrined in the Swedish constitution – made it possible to show that this was false. Since all documents in the Swedish state are in principle accessible to the public, internal documents in four places were found that made it clear that she had been fully informed of the event. This information was therefore published in "Riksdag & Department", an intra-governmental newspaper. The potential involvement in closing the website was seen by many as a violation against that part of the Swedish constitution dealing with freedom of the press. Most journalists suggest that the turning point came after

Göran Persson Hans Göran Persson (; born 20 January 1949) is a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Persson was first elected to the Swedish Parliame ...

, the

Prime Minister of Sweden The prime minister of Sweden (, "minister of state") is the head of government of the Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden. The prime minister and their cabinet (the government) exercise executive authority in the Kingdom of Sweden and are subject to th ...

during this time, publicly criticized the civil servant who suggested to the Internet host that they close the website, only to find out later that he had acted with the approval of Freivalds. It is theorised but not confirmed that the prime minister privately suggested that she resign, which she subsequently did. Bo Ringholm was Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs until 27 March, when

Jan Eliasson Jan Kenneth Eliasson (born 17 September 1940) is a Swedish diplomat who was Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations from July 2012 to December 2016. A member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Eliasson served as Minister for Foreign ...

was appointed to the post.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Freivalds, Laila 1942 births Living people Latvian emigrants to Sweden Latvian World War II refugees Female foreign ministers Ministers for foreign affairs of Sweden Ministers for justice of Sweden Swedish Social Democratic Party politicians Women government ministers of Sweden Uppsala University alumni Deputy prime ministers of Sweden 21st-century Swedish women politicians Female justice ministers Women diplomats for Sweden 20th-century Swedish women politicians 20th-century Swedish politicians Controversies in Sweden