WORLD : Suspect in Murder of Swedish Prime Minister Denies ‘Infamous Crime’
- Share via
STOCKHOLM — A man who went on trial today for the 1986 murder of Olof Palme denied that he gunned down the prime minister.
“I did not kill Prime Minister Olof Palme. I did not try to kill Mrs. Palme,” defendant Carl Gustaf Christer Pettersson told the court. “The shooting was an infamous crime that I could never have committed.”
Palme was shot in the back from a distance of eight inches Feb. 28, 1986, as he walked home from a movie. The gunman escaped down a dark side street. Mrs. Palme was slightly wounded by a second bullet.
Chief Magistrate Michael af Geijerstam broke a five-month news blackout on the defendant’s identity by reading Pettersson’s name live on a radio broadcast. Under Swedish law his name could not be released until the trial, and he has been identified in Swedish media only as “the 42-year-old.”
Pettersson has a history of drug and alcohol abuse and a long criminal record.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
So-Cal Edison likely sparked the Eaton Fire. CEO Pedro Pizarro gives host Kate Cagle his pitch for the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program amid lawsuits accusing the company of negligence.
In this special “Rebuilding L.A.,” Kate Cagle examines fire recovery and resilience. Featuring Rick Caruso on rebuilding the Palisades a year after the fires.
Hear from the winner of the 1968 Caltech vs MIT electric car race. But it’s not all fresh air: smog devastates communities of color, and the Trump administration may pull the plug on California’s ability to clear its own air.
