Lindh murder suspect can be held for another week

Swedish police were tonight given another week to hold the main suspect in the murder of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh as they seek evidence implicating him in her death.

The court decision came after international dignitaries honoured Lindh as a diplomat without peer whose concern for democracy and equality showed no bounds.

As 1,300 guests gathered inside Stockholm City Hall for a memorial service, prosecutors met behind closed doors to convince the judge to order the 35-year-old Swedish man arrested for her killing kept in custody.

Prosecutor Krister Peterson said investigators sought the order because they have reasonable grounds to suspect him in Lindh’s murder.

Gunnar Falk, the suspect’s lawyer, denied the man was involved in Lindh’s killing.

“I’m not impressed by the evidence,” he said. “It doesn’t contain anything of much value.”

Lindh, a 46-year-old mother of two, who was touted as a future prime minister, was stabbed in the chest, stomach and arms on September 10 as she shopped in a department store.

Guests at the memorial service included Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten, European Commission President Romano Prodi, former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, who is also a former Swedish foreign minister and Swedish King Carl Gustaf.

Prime Minister Goeran Persson said Lindh was “a woman who loved the world and who was loved by the world”.

Patten said she was unusual among diplomats. “Anna had no problems in using ethics and foreign policy in the same sentence,” he said.

Security around the event was intense with canal locks closed, private flights banned and hundreds of armed police, some plainclothes officers. In the waters surrounding the building, patrol boats moved backed and forth. Police snipers were stationed on neighbouring buildings.

A separate private memorial service was held at the store where Lindh was stabbed. A store spokeswoman said the giant mound of flowers and hand-written cards left in front of the store by grieving Swedes would be moved to City Hall tomorrow.