Sweden ready to try Lindh murder suspect

Swedish police have completed their investigation into stabbing of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh and are ready to try the lone suspect for murder.

The report, which totals nearly 1,000 pages, will be given to Peter Althin this week, the lawyer for 25-year-old Mijailo Mijailovic, who is in custody on suspicion of stabbing Lindh in September, police spokesman Ulf Goeranzon said today.

Althin will have three weeks to read the report before prosecutors can file charges against Mijailovic, who was arrested two weeks after Lindh was stabbed while shopping in a Stockholm department store with a friend.

Lindh, 46, and touted as a future prime minister.

Mijailovic has maintained his innocence.

If Althin does not object to the report, a trial could start as early as January 20, prosecutors have said.

Police have been tight-lipped about their evidence, but have said they have the proof needed to link Mijailovic to the crime. Investigators found DNA on the murder weapon, but have been tight lipped about whether it matched Mijailovic.

Goeranzon said the investigation will continue, and that more evidence could be added to the report before the trial.

Lindh’s murder shocked Sweden, which remains haunted by the unsolved killing of Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986.