The investigation into the murder of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme comes to an end after almost three and a half decades? The alleged perpetrator was identified - but no more charges can be brought.
Stockholm (AP) - The investigation into the murder of the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is terminated after more than 34 years.
Prosecutor Krister Petersson, who was entrusted with the Palme investigation, justified this decision on Wednesday with the fact that the alleged perpetrator had died. Therefore, no charges can be brought against him.
This concludes the investigation into one of the largest unsolved murders in Europe. For the Swedes, the killing of their then prime minister in Stockholm in 1986 is a national trauma, many of them have long since resigned themselves to the fact that the palm tree murder remains unsolved forever.
In mid-February, however, there was a surprising movement: Prosecutor Petersson had reported new traces on a Swedish crime television program and announced that he believed he could show what happened on the night of the crime before the summer. "I am confident that I can present what happened around the murder and who is responsible," Petersson said. At the same time, he had announced that in the first half of 2020 he would either file charges or stop the preliminary investigations.
The Swedish newspaper "Aftonbladet" reported before the eagerly awaited decision that the palm investigators had found the murder weapon. The Swedish government had already been informed in advance of the background to the investigators' announcement, the paper wrote, referring to informed circles.
On the evening of February 28, 1986, shortly before midnight, Olof Palme had been shot from behind by a man on the way back from a Stockholm cinema on the open road. Shortly thereafter, he was pronounced dead in the hospital. The social democrat had been prime minister for almost three and a half years after having held this position from 1969 to 1976. Palme's wife Lisbet, who had been to the cinema with him, was shot and survived the act, slightly injured.
A 33-year-old man initially came under suspicion in the initially slow-moving investigation, which was flawed from the start, in the murder case. He was released after a short detention. Another trail led the investigators to the Kurdish PKK, another year later to the secret service in South Africa. Again and again new traces and clues emerged, there was talk of a conspiracy within the Swedish police authorities as well as right-wing radicals as possible perpetrators.
The most concrete lead led the investigators to Christer Pettersson, who just happens to be called something like today's Palme prosecutor. The drug addicted and convicted man was arrested in late 1988 and identified as a perpetrator by Lisbet Palme. He was later convicted of murder by a court, but was acquitted in an appeal against a lack of clear evidence. He died in 2004. Another suspect who worked near the scene at the time of the murder, had access to weapons and was said to have hated Palme's policy, died 20 years ago.
Prosecutor's announcement
Aftonbladet report
