DNA match in Lindh killing

2003-12-18 11:27

Stockholm - DNA from the man suspected of stabbing Foreign Minister Anna Lindh matches traces found on his clothes and the knife used to kill her, a Swedish prosecutor said on Thursday.

"Yes, as media have already reported, there is DNA on the knife as well as on a pair of trousers," chief prosecutor Agneta Blidberg said.

Asked if the DNA matched the suspect, 25-year-old Mijailo Mijailovic, she said it did.

"Taken together, the existing evidence is good," she said in an interview with Swedish radio.

Swedish police said on Wednesday they had finished their initial investigation in the September 10 stabbing of Lindh and are ready to try Mijailovic for murder.

The report, which totals nearly 1 000 pages, will be given this week to Peter Althin, the lawyer for Mijailovic, said police spokesman Ulf Goeranzon. Mijailovic has been in custody on suspicion of stabbing Lindh for nearly three months.

Althin will have three weeks to read the report before prosecutors can file charges. If Althin doesn't object to the report, a trial could start as early as January 20, prosecutors have said.

Mijailovic has maintained his innocence.

Lindh, 46, touted as a future prime minister, was stabbed while shopping in a Stockholm department store with a friend. Police have said they don't believe there was a political motive for the killing.

Goeranzon said the investigation will continue, and that more evidence could be added to the report before the trial.

Lindh's murder shocked the country of 9 million, which remains haunted by the unsolved killing of Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986. - Sapa-AP

- SAPA