Suspect confesses to Lindh murder

THE man arrested for stabbing Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh last year has confessed to the crime, his lawyer said yesterday, adding the motive for the murder was not political.

Mijailo Mijailovic, aged 25, confessed on Tuesday, while he was being interrogated by police and investigators, said Peter Althin.

Althin said Lindh's stabbing which occurred just days before a national referendum on whether to adopt the euro was not political, but did not give a motive.

When asked if it was a random act, he said: "You could say that."

If he is convicted, which analysts said was all but certain, Mijailovic faces from 10 years to life in prison, but could be sentenced to a mental hospital, said Christian Diesen, a Stockholm University law professor.

A Swede of Yugoslav origin with previous convictions for assault, illegal weapons possession and making death threats, Mijailovic has been in custody since September 24, two weeks after the 46-year-old Lindh was stabbed several times in the stomach in a Stockholm department store while shopping with a friend.

Doctors worked for several hours to save her, but she died the morning of September 11, plunging the country into mourning.

Chief prosecutor Agneta Blidberg said the confession would likely result in a swifter trial and increased the likelihood of a guilty verdict.

"I had counted on a confession at some time," she said, noting that investigators had successfully linked DNA traces found on the knife used to stab Lindh and on Mijailovic's clothes to his own.

Diesen said Mijailovic must still be tried, despite confessing.