Sweden's top censor resigns

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- The head of Sweden's Board of Film Censors has resigned to protest Sweden's continued censorship of films for adults.

Gunnel Arrback, who spent 26 years on the job, has advocated following the rest of Scandinavia by abandoning the censorship oversight of films for adults, Variety said. The last mainstream film to be cut was Martin Scorsese's "Casino" in 1995.

“Censorship of films for adults is absurd,” she said, adding that films geared to viewers 15 years and younger are the only movies that should be examined -- a system practiced in Denmark. “During the years, I have become more and more convinced that film does not have a negative effect on the audience and there has been no research that proves the opposite.”

Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Sweden's minister of culture, said censorship of adult movies will be a question for the government later in the fall. Three of the government parties want to abolish censorship, with Christian Democrats, who have strong ties to the church, still favoring its retention.