DLM
12-02-2004, 07:33 AM
Swedish court says killer to serve life for murder of foreign minister
Thu Dec 2, 3:05 AM ET
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - After months of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court overturned an appeals court ruling Thursday and said the confessed killer of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh will serve his sentence in prison.
The decision by the five-judge panel overturned an appeals court ruling earlier this year that said Mijailo Mijailovic would be confined to a mental hospital for the September 2003 stabbing death of Lindh as she shopped unguarded. The Supreme Court's decision is final.
A district court originally sentenced Mijailovic to life in prison in March, but it was overturned by an appeals court, which ordered psychiatric care instead, saying that he suffered from "borderline personality disorders."
Prosecutors - under strong pressure from the public, which felt psychiatric care was too mild a punishment - appealed to the Supreme Court, asking it to uphold the original sentence.
The Supreme Court's decision marked the last chapter in one of Sweden's most publicized murder cases since the 1986 unsolved killing of Prime Minister Olof Palme, who was shot as he left a theatre with his wife. Palme also did not have police protection when he was murdered.
With the court's decision that he go to prison, Mijailovic will likely serve no longer than 15 years, the typical length of a life sentence in the Scandinavian country.
Had he remained in psychiatric care, he could have been held in a secure facility for as long as 20 years - or get out sooner on a doctor's recommendation.
Lindh, 46, had been expected to be Sweden's next prime minister. She died a day after the attack.
Thu Dec 2, 3:05 AM ET
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - After months of legal wrangling, the Supreme Court overturned an appeals court ruling Thursday and said the confessed killer of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh will serve his sentence in prison.
The decision by the five-judge panel overturned an appeals court ruling earlier this year that said Mijailo Mijailovic would be confined to a mental hospital for the September 2003 stabbing death of Lindh as she shopped unguarded. The Supreme Court's decision is final.
A district court originally sentenced Mijailovic to life in prison in March, but it was overturned by an appeals court, which ordered psychiatric care instead, saying that he suffered from "borderline personality disorders."
Prosecutors - under strong pressure from the public, which felt psychiatric care was too mild a punishment - appealed to the Supreme Court, asking it to uphold the original sentence.
The Supreme Court's decision marked the last chapter in one of Sweden's most publicized murder cases since the 1986 unsolved killing of Prime Minister Olof Palme, who was shot as he left a theatre with his wife. Palme also did not have police protection when he was murdered.
With the court's decision that he go to prison, Mijailovic will likely serve no longer than 15 years, the typical length of a life sentence in the Scandinavian country.
Had he remained in psychiatric care, he could have been held in a secure facility for as long as 20 years - or get out sooner on a doctor's recommendation.
Lindh, 46, had been expected to be Sweden's next prime minister. She died a day after the attack.