Sweden to Try Suspect With Long Record in Palme’s 1986 Slaying

Christer Pettersson, a 42-year-old Swede with a record of crime and drug abuse, was charged Monday with the premeditated 1986 murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme and will go on trial June 5.

Pettersson, under arrest since Dec. 14, has denied killing Palme. The material presented by prosecutors to the Stockholm district court made clear their case was based almost entirely on circumstantial evidence.

The official charge sheet said: “Pettersson on Feb. 28, 1986, with intent took the life of Prime Minister Olof Palme by shooting Olof Palme from behind with a revolver on the corner of Sveavagen and Tunnelgatan in Stockholm.”

It listed 32 prosecution witnesses, but there was no technical evidence or a direct eyewitness to the shooting.

“It would have been good if we had found the murder weapon, but the evidence we have is sufficient for a conviction,” said prosecutor Jorgen Almblad.

Pettersson was also charged with the attempted murder of Palme’s wife, Lisbet, who was grazed by a bullet. The Palmes were walking home at night from the movies when an assassin opened fire from point-blank range before fleeing up an alley.

Lisbet Palme is expected to be the key witness. Officers say she saw the accused at the scene of the murder, but they concede no one saw him with a gun in his hand.

The prosecutors said witnesses saw Pettersson waiting outside the movie theater and later following the Palmes. Witnesses are also expected to testify that Pettersson had a motive to kill Palme, that his alibi did not stand up and that he had the opportunity to obtain a weapon.

“He is known to have made various anti-Palme statements,” Almblad said.