Lindh killer stays silent at appeal

The man convicted of killing Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh hardly uttered a word when he was questioned in an appeals court about the stabbing death, telling his lawyer he did not have the strength to speak.

Mijailo Mijailovic, who appealed his murder conviction and life prison sentence earlier this year, declined to address the court – a move that analysts said could ultimately hurt his chances of a reduced sentence.

Mijailovic has earlier said he could not resist internal voices urging him to attack Lindh on September 10, 2003, but insisted he did not mean to kill her.

When chief prosecutor Krister Petersson questioned the 25-year-old about the stabbing, Mijailovic sat, stone-faced, staring into his desk.

After an awkward moment of silence in the crowded Stockholm court room, Mijailovic looked to his defence lawyer and whispered: “I cannot manage anymore.”

Legal analysts called his reticence a setback in his appeal, saying he missed a chance to explain his mental state during the attack.

A lower court convicted Mijailovic of murder and sentenced him to life in prison. His lawyer, Peter Althin, appealed the March ruling, questioning a court-ordered psychiatric review of Mijailovic, which found that he was not seriously mentally ill.

Two psychiatrists are set to testify on Mijailovic’s mental health tomorrow.

Althin wants the appeals court to either reduce the sentence or toss out the murder conviction altogether, reducing the charge to involuntary manslaughter.