Swedes await answer to riddle of Prime Minister Olof Palme's 1986 murder

By Simon Johnson

 

FILE PHOTO: Roses are laid on a plaque marking the location where Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot and killed 25 years ago on a street in Stockholm February 28, 2011. REUTERS/Bob Strong/File Photo

 

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedes may get an answer on Wednesday to the mystery of who shot Social Democrat Prime Minister Olof Palme when the Swedish prosecutor in charge of the case presents his conclusions to an investigation that has lasted 34 years.

 

Palme was shot dead in central Stockholm in 1986 after a visit to the cinema with his wife and son. The murder sparked a massive manhunt and a plethora of conspiracy theories involving shadowy forces ranging from the CIA and Kurdish separatists to the South African security services.

 

The Swedish politican Olof Palme photographed 1975. TT News Agency/Jack Mikrut via REUTERS

 

While a petty criminal was convicted of Palme's killing, the judgement was later overturned and the police's failure to identify the culprit has left a scar on the psyche of a country that still prides itself on how safe it is to walk its streets.

 

Palme was prime minister between 1969 and 1976 and between 1982 and 1986. Some hail him as the architect of modern Sweden, but conservatives hated his anti-colonial views and criticism of the United States.

 

So many years after the killing, few Swedes had expected a resolution of the nation's most high-profile murder case, and prosecutor Krister Petersson's announcement in February that he was close to wrapping it up ignited a storm of debate.

 

He has been tight-lipped since then, but on Wednesday, Petersson will announce his conclusions at a news conference that has attracted huge media attention, knocking coronavirus updates off many newspaper front pages.

 

A comment by Petersson that he may not be able to bring a prosecution has been seen as a suggestion that the suspected killer is already dead.

 

And naming a suspect may not end put an end to the conspiracy theories.

 

"If we get a clear answer, it will mean that one of the biggest political and judicial mysteries in Sweden has finally been solved," Gunnar Wall, a journalist who has written several books about Palme's killing, said.

 

"If what is put forward now is another uncertain hypothesis ...it will just strengthen the feeling that many people have that the Swedish justice system does not work very well."

 

(Reporting by Simon Johnson; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-06-10

 

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I imagine a great number of parties wanted him dead. He is essentially single handedly responsible for Sweden becoming the rape capital of the world. I'm sure a lot of Swedes have not enjoyed the cultural enrichment forced upon them without consent or consultation by the Socialists, as much as expected.

Edited June 10, 20206 yr by UnkleGoooose

43 minutes ago, UnkleGoooose said:

I imagine a great number of parties wanted him dead. He is essentially single handedly responsible for Sweden becoming the rape capital of the world. I'm sure a lot of Swedes have not enjoyed the cultural enrichment forced upon them without consent or consultation by the Socialists, as much as expected.

Absolute nonsense, Palme was a popular Social Democrat PM who did much for ordinary people in the welfare state area, something that Americans know little about nor do they understand the concept. An economically sound country.

Will be interesting to see what they come up with after all these years.

 

I read the BBC's article on this. Very poor police work at the time. 

1 hour ago, UnkleGoooose said:

He is essentially single handedly responsible for Sweden becoming the rape capital of the world

I don't understand that, UnkleGoooose---could you elaborate on your statement?.

 

Anyway when the sleuths have finished with that maybe they could swing over to Oz where the PM was picked by a Chinese Mini Sub while having a swim --or the CIA killed him as he was going to pull the troops out of Vietnam.........or he settled down in Malaysia with his girlfriend on her rubber plantation.

Some random insurance guy.

 

 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/europe/sweden-olof-palme-murder-intl/index.html

The Swedisj 'justice system' didn't work in more recent case, either. It failed to get Julian Assange extradited 'for questioning' and then transshipped to a US gulag.