34 years ago, the Swedish Prime Minister was shot dead on the way home from the cinema. On Wednesday morning, the prosecutor wants to present new findings on the unsolved case.
Updated 10 hours ago—
Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, at a press conference in Geneva, undated recording.
Photo: Keystone
On the evening of February 28, 1986, the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot at close range. In Stockholm, he and his wife are on their way home after going to the cinema, without bodyguards or police protection. A man shoots him twice in the back from a short distance and flees. The 59-year-old Palme is still taken to a hospital, where he dies shortly afterwards.
No one knows who shot Olof Palme to this day, a murder weapon was never found. The prosecutor, who has been investigating since 2017, now wants to present his latest findings on Wednesday morning at 9.30 a.m., possibly naming suspects and knowing more about the background of the attack.
The hope of finally getting answers after 34 years is high in Sweden – because the murder of the popular politician left a painful wound in traditionally open society. And so far, all police chiefs and prosecutors have failed to solve the crime.
At first the case looked promising: after intensive investigations, the petty criminal Christer Pettersson was convicted in 1989 as an assassin. In the second instance, however, he was acquitted again, among other things because the authorities gave the widow Palmes decisive references to Pettersson when juxtaposed with the alleged perpetrator.
Indeed, many theories
Since then, numerous conspiracy theories have grown up around the murder of Sweden’s prime minister – the assassination attempt on the charismatic palm tree is therefore often compared to that of John F. Kennedy in 1963. The theory that a secret NATO group had Olof Palme murdered recently was particularly popular because he did not brave the Soviet Union’s cold war enough and fought NATO’s nuclear build-up. The “Skandia man” is also considered a perpetrator by many – he apparently hated the prime minister, was the first witness at the scene and worked in the nearby Skandia building.
Or did the gun lobby have the Social Democrats eliminated because he repeatedly campaigned against war and disarmament? Was it the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that was behind several murders in Europe at the time? Did the supposedly right-wing extremist Swedish secret service have its fingers in the game? Or is the CIA behind the attack?
–The archive with all the files on the Olof Palme murder case fills 250 meters of shelf space. 10,000 witnesses were interviewed, 8,000 traces examined, but to date no one – in the picture Stig Edqvist, chief investigator from 1996 to 2017 – has been able to solve the case. The costs now exceed CHF 40 million.
Photo: Reuters
The South African secret service is also suspected of murdering palm trees because the Swede had campaigned against the apartheid regime. Apparently there were several secret agent confessions in the 1990s, and the Swedish police confirmed that a South African secret agent had actually been in Stockholm at the time of the attack. The journalist Jan Stocklassa also followed this trail, continuing to research the crime writer Stieg Larsson, who died in 2004.
However, there have been confessions from several people and organizations. The RAF Red Army faction confessed to the crime, but the police considered it a lie. In total, around 130 confessions were received over the years, but none of them turned out to be credible.
–State funeral: On March 15, 1986, Olof Palme was buried in Stockholm.
Photo: Reuters
Criticism of investigators
In addition to the possible motives and backgrounds, the role of the investigators is also at the center of the discussions. The police are repeatedly criticized as incompetent by journalists, authors and Olof Palme biographers. In addition to the mistakes in the lawsuit against Christer Pettersson, the apparently negligent investigation directly after the murder contributed to this.
So the crime scene was not cordoned off properly, possibly traces were blurred. The projectiles were found by civilians, which does not suggest clean police work. And the slight injuries to Olof Palme’s widow have never been investigated in more detail – they could have provided more accurate evidence of the fact.
It is still unclear why the Stockholm police chief took over the investigation and not a federal authority. So the Swedes are now waiting for clarity on Wednesday morning to finally clarify the act on one of the most popular and internationally known Swedish politicians.
–Olof Palme after his election success in 1985
ddp / STELLA Pictures / Stefan Lindblom
Fight for peace and equality
Olof Palme was born in 1927 as the youngest son of a family in the noble district of Östermalm in Stockholm. He joined the Social Democrats at a young age and campaigned for peace, disarmament and against the apartheid regime in South Africa.
At the age of 36, he became a member of the State Council and was therefore in the Swedish government. During this time, the actually America-friendly but peace-loving palm also protested against the Vietnam War and criticized the United States for its war crimes, for which he even used Nazi comparisons.
Palme served twice as Prime Minister of Sweden, once from 1969 to 1976 and then from 1982 until his murder in 1986. During his tenure, he was able to celebrate success with family policy reforms and campaigned for more equality and equality. The social democrat created kindergarten places and opened the labor market for women. Internationally, he mediated between Iran and Iraq in the First Gulf War.
In the middle of the Cold War, the anti-communist also visited Fidel Castro in Cuba. In Sweden, he was disparaged as a spy in the Soviet Union and received death threats. Nevertheless, he did without an armored company car and was always on the road without a bodyguard.
–Olof Palme visited the Cuban President Fidel Castro in 1975.
Photo: action press
Media conference live on Youtube
After many police officers and prosecutors unsuccessfully investigated the Olof Palme case for years, the prosecutor Krister Petterson has been leading the investigation since February 2017. He was optimistic early on to have new knowledge about the case. At the beginning of 2020, he spoke of new traces and suspects, apparently he is also said to have constructed the scene of the crime.
On Wednesday morning, he wants to present the results of his work and either file charges against suspects or end the investigation after more than 34 years. However, the latter should not necessarily be a failure, because most of the suspects or perpetrators previously suspected have now died and can therefore no longer be charged. Christer Pettersson, who was convicted in the first instance, died in 2004 after an accident, the first witness at the scene, the “Skandia man”, shot himself in 2000.
Prosecutor Petterson appears in front of the international media in Stockholm at 9:30 a.m., because of the coronavirus pandemic, his explanations will also be shown live on YouTube.
–Olof Palme 1985 in Stockholm: On Wednesday morning, Sweden hopes to find out more about the murder of its prime minister.
Photo: Keystone
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–The case has long since been resolved for the family of the social democrat: the widow Palmes identified Christer Petterson as a murderer, and the couple’s sons also believe that the petty criminal committed the crime. Petterson was acquitted in the second instance for lack of evidence.
REUTERS
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–Olof Palme, here after his election as Prime Minister in 1982, is remembered in Sweden and internationally, not only because of the unsolved murder case, the politician also inspired many people worldwide with his passionate commitment to equality and peace.
via REUTERS
––-Published: 06/09/2020, 08:21 PM-
