Minister's killer faces murder trial

The question of Mijailo Mijailovic’s guilt is a moot point, experts say, given his rambling confession that claims voices in his head, including Jesus, told him to stab Lindh in a Stockholm department store last September, and the mountain of evidence, including her blood on his clothes and his DNA on the knife used to stab her.

But questions linger why he attacked Lindh as she shopped for clothes with a friend, unguarded, and what state he was in during the attack.

Mijailovic’s defence lawyer, Peter Althin, has not revealed his strategy, but was expected to seek a reduced charge of manslaughter and raise concerns about his client’s mental health.

“The thing for the court to discuss is, what was his purpose? To hurt or to kill?” Althin told Associated Press Television News.

Althin said there was no political motive behind the attack, which came just four days before a divisive referendum on whether to adopt the euro. He said he would ask for a psychiatric screening of Mijailovic.

Chief prosecutor Agneta Blidberg said she would call three witnesses to testify during the trial: Eva Franchell, who was with Lindh during the attack, the coroner who carried out Lindh’s autopsy, and a British forensic expert who analysed the knife.

Mijailovic confessed to police last week, saying he wanted to end speculation about the motive, including press reports that he was upset over Lindh’s support of 1999 Nato air strikes on Serbia.

In transcripts of the confession, he said voices in his head told him to stab Lindh. He said he had nothing against her and that the victim might as well have been someone else.

Prosecutors say the attack was premeditated and were expected to argue that Mijailovic stalked Lindh for 14 minutes before stabbing her. She died the next day after doctors worked through the night to save her.

Mijailovic was arrested on September 24, after police said they found his DNA on the murder weapon.

He has a history of mental problems and three previous convictions, including one for a 1996 stabbing attack on his father, who survived.

A psychiatric evaluation during that trial found Mijailovic “in great need of psychiatric and psychotherapeutic efforts”, but said there were no medical grounds to sentence him to psychiatric care.

The mentally ill are tried in Swedish courts, but gravely deranged criminals are sentenced to psychiatric care instead of prison.

“It is difficult to place an exact limit for a psychiatric disorder, but the bar is placed high,” said Fredrik Heden, a forensic psychiatrist in Stockholm.

If convicted, Mijailovic could face life in prison, the maximum sentence in Sweden, which, in practice, typically means 10 to 15 years behind bars.

However, if sentenced to psychiatric care, he would be incarcerated in a mental institution until doctors decided he was well enough to be released.

The trial, which is expected to conclude Monday, is being held inside the maximum-security courtroom at Stockholm’s district court.

Lindh’s murder sent shock waves through the Scandinavian country, still scarred by the unsolved murder of prime minister Olof Palme in 1986.

The attack raised renewed concern about the lax security protection for political leaders, as well as shortcomings in Sweden’s psychiatric care.