Lindh killer sentenced to life
2004-03-23 15:14
Stockholm - The man who confessed to fatally stabbing Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh last year has been sentenced to life in prison for murder, a Stockholm district court said on Tuesday.
Lindh died on September 11, a day after 25-year-old Mijailo Mijailovic attacked her while she was shopping, repeatedly stabbing her in the stomach, chest and arms.
"He used a life-threatening weapon. He held the knife with both hands when he delivered the stabs... the force was powerful. The location and the size of the stab wounds indicates that the intention was to kill," the court said in a statement.
Mijailovic confessed to the crime in January, and claimed he had heard voices in his head which made him seek out and brutally stab Lindh.
While firmly establishing Mijailovic's guilt during the trial in January, the court also allowed for the possibility that he might be mentally unstable and ordered psychiatric testing, which might have led to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
But the six-week probe concluded that Mijailovic was not mentally ill, neither when he stabbed Lindh nor afterwards, which meant he knew what he was doing.
"It is beyond reasonable doubt that Mijailo Mijailovic intended to kill Anna Lindh," the court said on Tuesday.
"The crime shall, on the basis of the aforementioned, be considered murder," it said. "He (Mijailovic) is therefore ... sentenced to life in prison".
In an immediate reaction, Mijailovic's lawyer Peter Althin said it was too early to say whether he would appeal the decision, but he insisted that the prosecution had failed to prove premeditation on the part of his client.
"It has not been shown that he meant to kill," he told journalists.
Lindh's death caused shock among Swedes who expected her to one day lead the country as prime minister and brought back painful memories of the unsolved 1986 killing of prime minister Olof Palme.
As foreign minister, Lindh represented her country abroad with political ideals that were also her own personal goals - defending democracy, human rights and equality - values Swedes cherish and in which they take immense pride.
- AFP