Sweden checks Chilean link

Press, 9 June 1986, Page 6

Sweden checks Chilean link

NZPA-Reuter London Swedish authorities are investigating the possibility that Chile’s Right-wing military Government may be linked to the assassination of the Prime Minister Olof Palme in February, a British newspaper reported. The “Observer,” said the Swedes have evidence that the Chilean secret police first gave orders for Palme’s murder about 1975.

The Chilean Government has been frequently criticised by Sweden for its human rights record and failure to restore democracy after more than 12 years of military rule.

The newspaper, citing as its source an unnamed senior Swedish Government official, said a key figure in the case could be Michael Townley, a

United States citizen convicted of involvement in the assassination of a leading Chilean opposition figure in 1976. Townley is on parole for his part in the bombing in Washington which killed Orlando Letelier, a former Chilean ambassador to the United States under the socialist President, Salvador Allende, who was overthrown in 1973.

"Townley had a contract for Palme’s life,” the paper quoted the senior official as saying, although it added that the Swedish Government did not believe he was necessarily personally involved in Palme’s death. In Stockholm, senior Government officials and the police refused to comment on the grounds that they could not say anything on a continuing investigation.