Bertil Sagermark, Francisca Walters Mazariegos v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Bertil Sagermark, a Swedish citizen, is a civil engineer who was employed by Linden Cranes, a Swedish company, in 1961 to market their cranes in Spain. Sagermark eventually modified the designs and attempted to market them independently. When Linden found out about Sagermark’s actions, it brought charges against Sager-mark, first for embezzlement, and later for grave disloyalty to principal, both crimes under Swedish law.

Sagermark refused to return to Sweden for trial. The Swedish government asked for his extradition, resulting in his serving 36 days in a Barcelona jail until Spain decided to refuse the extradition request. Sagermark returned to Sweden in 1967 and was tried and convicted of grave disloyalty to principal. On appeal, the charge was reduced and Sagermark was neither fined nor jailed. His engineering license was not revoked.

Sagermark took his case to the Swedish Supreme Court five times without success. He also complained to the Parliamentary Ombudsman for Justice about alleged mishandling of his case. After the Ombudsman took no action, Sagermark sued the judges, prosecutors, and other governmental officials involved in his case, but the suits were dismissed for…