The Eurovision photographer at the centre of the Joost Klein harassment case will not appeal the decision by Swedish police to drop the case against the Dutch singer.
As Aftonbladet reports, the unnamed photographer wants to move on with her life.
“My client wants to focus on her mental well-being,” her lawyer Kristoffer Ståhl told the newspaper.
“My client holds no grudge against Mr. Klein. She believes that violence should not be accepted anywhere, regardless of adrenaline or upset feelings.”
“During this process, she has had to endure hate and also threats online. Therefore, my client now wants to focus on her mental well-being, move on with her life and professional career as a photographer. My client will not appeal the decision to drop the case and will not comment further on this matter.”
Eurovision photographer won’t appeal Joost Klein case citing her mental health
You’ll recall that Joost was disqualified from the final after an incident backstage where he was accused of threatening the photographer.
The reasoning from the EBU at the time was that it would not be appropriate for Joost to participate in the Grand Final because police were investigating his threatening behaviour toward the photographer during said incident.
But in August Malmö’s Public Prosecutor’s Office officially dropped its investigation.
“Today I have closed the investigation because I cannot prove that the act was capable of causing serious fear or that the man had any such intention,” the senior prosecutor elaborated to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
“It was confirmed that there had been a movement towards the film camera by the accused and that the movement hit the film camera, but for it to be an unlawful threat I would have to assume, that his intention with that action was to induce serious fear towards or simply threaten her. Based on the situation, which was a quick sequence of events in a special situation, I cannot sufficiently prove that he did it to threaten her. I can’t conclude anything other than the intention was to influence the filming, he simply didn’t want to be filmed.”
During the police interrogation, the woman described how Joost became “angrier and angrier.”
Aftonbladet took part in the interrogation and reported on it earlier this week.
“I felt scared and vulnerable and everything happened so fast.”
Joost Klein said he did not fully remember the incident: “I don’t recognize myself in this situation.”