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Lindh: Taxi driver testifies
16/01/2004 21:43 - (SA)
Stockholm, Sweden - The testimony of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh's confessed killer was backed on Friday by a mystery taxi driver, who said he picked up Mijailo Mijailovic after the deadly stabbing, unaware that his passenger was the fleeing attacker.
The driver was being questioned by police as the murder trial of Mijailovic, 25, adjourned until Monday, when lawyers are set to deliver closing arguments.
Police spokesperson Goesta Andersson said the man, who wasn't identified, contacted investigators on Thursday saying he was the taxi driver who took Mijailovic to his home outside Stockholm after the September 10 stabbing.
"We want to see if he confirms or denies" Mijailovic's account of what happened after the attack, Andersson said.
Investigators earlier raised doubts about Mijailovic's testimony about the taxi ride, saying they weren't able to find the driver.
In an interview with the tabloid Aftonbladet, the driver said he didn't realise he met the killer until he saw media pictures of Mijailovic this week.
"This shows that (Mijailovic) has left correct information," Peter Althin told Swedish Radio. "Then there's more reason to believe he tells the truth in other parts of his account."
As the trial started on Wednesday, Mijailovic told the court that he fatally stabbed Lindh while acting on voices in his head, but he said he didn't mean to kill her.
On Thursday, Lindh's former press secretary recounted how their shopping trip at an upscale Stockholm department store turned to tragedy and plunged Sweden into shock and mourning.
Shopping for clothes
Eva Franchell said she and the 46-year-old Lindh were shopping for clothes for a television debate ahead of a weekend referendum on the euro when she saw Mijailovic approach them.
"He ran - rushed rather - at high speed directly at Anna," Franchell said. "He pressed her against the clothing rack. It almost looked perverse the way he was pushing against her."
Lindh then sank to the floor, Franchell said.
"'How are you, old girl?"' she recalled saying. "She tells me she has been stabbed and I looked down (at) her stomach, how blood is oozing out."
Henrik Druid, the coroner who conducted Lindh's autopsy, testified she was stabbed at least seven times. The fatal blow came from a stab wound deep in her liver, Druid said.
The second day concluded after a closed-door session involving secret information from a preliminary psychiatric screening conducted after Mijailovic's September 24 arrest.
Althin is expected to request a complete psychiatric examination when the trial continues. If the panel of two judges and three politically appointed jurors rules he is suffering from a severe mental illness, Mijailovic would be sentenced to psychiatric care instead of prison.
If convicted of murder and deemed mentally competent, Mijailovic could be sentenced to life in prison, which in practice means 10 to 15 years.
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