Lindh killer 'not crazy'

2004-03-09 17:54

Stockholm, Sweden - The confessed killer of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was not suffering from a serious mental illness at the time of the stabbing, according to a psychiatric evaluation released on Tuesday.

Mijailo Mijailovic, 25, says he followed the instruction of voices in his head when he stabbed Lindh on September 10 in a Stockholm department store.

A court-appointed team of psychiatric doctors found that Mijailovic was not suffering from a serious mental illness at the time and that there were no medical reasons to sentence him to psychiatric care instead of prison.

If the court rules that Mijailovic is seriously mentally ill, he will be sentenced to psychiatric care, not prison. A sentencing hearing is set for March 16, with the verdict announced a week later.

Defence attorney Peter Althin said he had not yet decided whether to have other experts testify on the mental health of his client, a Swede of Serbian origin.

"I want to read how they reached this conclusion before I decide whether to request further expertise to comment on this evaluation," Althin told reporters as a brief summary of the evaluation was made public.

Althin also said he expected that the psychiatric screening result would hinder his efforts to have the charge Mijailovic faces reduced from murder to manslaughter.

Mijailovic, who has three previous convictions, confessed to the attack on Lindh after being confronted with DNA evidence linking him to the knife used to kill her.

- AP