Minister's killer admits to manslaughter

The killer of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh went on trial for murder in Stockholm today with his lawyer asking that the charge be reduced to manslaughter.

In opening statements before a packed courtroom, lawyer Peter Althin said Mijailo Mijailovic should be tried for manslaughter because the attack was not planned.

“He did not intend to kill her,” Althin said of the fatal stabbing in a department store in the Swedish capital.

Mijailovic, sporting slight beard, sat at a small table with his lawyer, facing the panel of judges.

The question of Mijailovic’s guilt is a moot point, experts say, given his rambling confession that claims voices in his head, including Jesus, told him to stab Lindh, and the mountain of evidence, including her blood on his clothes and his DNA on the knife used to stab her.

But questions linger why he attacked Lindh as she shopped for clothes with a friend, unguarded, and what state he was in during the attack.

Althin said there was no political motive behind the attack, which came just four days ahead of a divisive referendum on whether to adopt the euro. He said he will request a psychiatric screening of Mijailovic.

Mijailovic, a Swede of Yugoslav descent, confessed to police last week, saying he wanted to end speculation about the motive, including reports that he was upset over Lindh’s support of 1999 Nato air strikes on Serbia.

In transcripts of the confession, he said voices in his head told him to stab Lindh. He said he had nothing against her and that the victim might as well have been someone else.

Prosecutors say the attack was premeditated and are expected to argue that Mijailovic briefly stalked Lindh for 14 minutes victim before stabbing her four months ago. She died the next day after doctors worked through the night to save her.

Mijailovic was arrested after police said they found his DNA on the murder weapon.

He has a history of mental problems and three previous convictions, including one for a 1996 stabbing attack on his father, who survived.

A psychiatric evaluation during that trial found Mijailovic “in great need of psychiatric and psychotherapeutic efforts,” but said there were no medical grounds to sentence him to psychiatric care.