Court may free man convicted of Palme’s murder

Press, 29 July 1989, Page 10

Court may free man convicted of Palme’s murder

NZPA-Reuter Stockholm The man jailed for life yesterday for murdering the Swedish Prime Minister, 010 l Palme, in 1986 stands a good chance of being acquitted by an appeal hearing to be held within eight weeks, legal experts said. “Barring extraordinary events, he will be set free by the Court of Appeals,” said Jan Karlsson, a criminal lawyer who has followed the case. Christer Pettersson, aged 42, a Swede with 63 previous criminal convictions, was found guilty of murder by a Stockholm district court, but both judges on the eightmember panel voted to acquit him. The lack of unanimity ensured that the national trauma which has haunted Sweden since Mr Palme’s assassination on February 28, 1986, will not be quickly healed. “Swedes want to know who killed Palme, and this brings us no further. With a split court, the uncertainty remains,” said Lars Engqvist, editor of the regional daily, “Arbetet.” The six lay assessors all voted for a guilty verdict, but in the Appeals Court four judges and three laymen will decide the case. “Judges sometimes demand a higher standard

of evidence than lay assessors, and there is reason to believe that the appeal court judges will agree with those on the District Court,” said Claes Borgstrom, Swedish radio’s legal expert. A radio poll conducted after the verdict indicated that two Swedes in three doubted Pettersson’s guilt. The murder inquiry was racked with scandals which led to the resignation of a Justice Minister and several top police officers and civil servants. A string of elaborate conspiracy theories was advanced to explain the murder of Sweden’s bestknown politician of modern times, a fervent proponent of international peace and disarmament. Pettersson, a selfconfessed alcoholic and petty thief, was once convicted of killing a youth with a bayonet while on the run from a mental institution, but fervently denied shooting Palme. The District Court split over key testimony by Mr Palme’s widow Lisbet, who identified Pettersson as a man staring coldly at her dying husband moments after the shooting, and witnesses who said they saw him following the Palmes as they walked home from the cinema.

The murder weapon was never found and no

one saw Pettersson with a gun in his hand. “The bulk of evidence supports Lisbet Palme’s identification of Christer Pettersson to such a degree that the District Court finds it settled beyond reasonable doubt that he fired both bullets,” the majority verdict said. But the judges, CarlAnton Spak and Mikael af Geijerstam, said uncertainty remained. “There is a substantial chance that Lisbet Palme was mistaken considering the time that has elapsed and the fact that she did not know the perpetrator,” they said. Pettersson, who has been in custody since his arrest last December, was encouraged by the verdict. “He is calm and collected and optimistic about the future. So am I,” his defence lawyer, Arne Liljeros, said. An appeal trial, which must be within eight weeks of the lower court verdict, is likely to start in early September.

The case prosecutor, Anders Helin, said he did not believe the cards were stacked in favour of Pettersson in an appeal trial.

“Judges can have different opinions, too. There are many examples of that,” he said.