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Trial in Swedish Official's Death Opens

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 06:00 CST

Four months after Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was fatally stabbed in a department store, the lawyer for her confessed killer told a Swedish court Wednesday that the murder charge should be reduced because the attack was not planned.

Defense lawyer Peter Althin acknowledged in opening statements that his client, Mijailo Mijailovic, killed Lindh, but said Mijailovic should be tried for manslaughter because "he did not intend to kill her."

Althin, who plans to seek a psychiatric evaluation of his client, said there was no political motive for the attack, which came four days before a divisive referendum on whether to adopt the European common currency.

"The thing for the court to discuss is, what was his purpose: to hurt or to kill?" Althin told Associated Press Television News before the trial.

The guilt of Mijailovic is not at issue since he made a rambling confession claiming Jesus and other voices in his head told him to stab Lindh.

There also is a substantial amount of physical evidence, including the presence of Lindh's blood on Mijailovic's clothes and his DNA on the murder weapon.

Chief prosecutor Agneta Blidberg told the court that British experts who analyzed the DNA samples said the chance they were not from Mijailovic was 1 in 16 million.

If convicted, Mijailovic could face life in prison, the maximum sentence in Sweden. In practice, however, it typically means 10-15 years behind bars.

If sentenced to psychiatric care, he would be incarcerated in a mental institution until doctors decide he is well enough to be released.

Questions linger about why Mijailovic attacked the 46-year-old foreign minister, who had no bodyguards while shopping for clothes with a friend Sept. 10 in an upscale Stockholm department store.

Lindh's murder stunned many in this Scandinavian country, still scarred by the unsolved 1986 murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme. The attack raised renewed concern about the lax security for political leaders, as well as shortcomings in Sweden's mental health system.

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

According to transcripts of the confession, Mijailovic said he had nothing against the foreign minister and chose her at random.

Prosecutors say the attack was premeditated, and they are expected to argue that Mijailovic stalked Lindh for 14 minutes before stabbing her. She died the next day.

Blidberg said she will call three witnesses during the trial: Eva Franchell, who was with Lindh during the attack; the coroner; and a British forensic expert who analyzed the knife.

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

An evaluation during the trial for the attack on his father found Mijailovic "in great need of psychiatric and psychotherapeutic efforts," but said there were no medical grounds to confine him.

Swedish Radio reported Tuesday that a government health agency would probe whether Mijailovic was given adequate care for his mental problems.

The mentally ill can be 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.

The trial, in a maximum-security courtroom, is expected to finish Monday.

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