So the murder was done by someone who really wanted to kill him. It wasn't opportune, it was all planned. The first chief investigator into the case pursued the idea that the Kurdish militant PKK had something to do with his murder. They were fighting a guerrilla campaign against Turkey and had recently been declared a terrorist group by Palme's government.
But he was forced to resign in disgrace in after a raid on a bookshop - which served as a base for the organisation - garnered zero evidence about the murder. In police arrested convicted criminal Christer Pettersson. He had killed a man on a Stockholm street with a bayonet in for seemingly no reason, and he matched the description of a person seen acting suspiciously near the cinema on the night Palme was killed.
During a police line-up, Lisbet Palme identified Pettersson as the murderer. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in But his lawyer immediately appealed. Pettersson died in a free man. Sweden's collective trauma and obsession with the assassination has spawned dozens of theories and even a term for the fixation - Palmes sjukdom, or Palme sickness.
A former South African police officer claimed in Palme was killed because of his stance against apartheid and for funding the ANC. Swedish investigators travelled there that year but could not find evidence to back up the claim, although some believe the old apartheid regime should still be considered a suspect.
Stieg Larsson, author of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, spent years researching the murder and advanced this theory before his death in Dr Bondeson, meanwhile, believes the murder was linked to arms deals with India. Swedish arms company Bofors had a deal to supply India with artillery in the s and s, but it was later revealed the company had bribed several middlemen in India for the contract - a scandal that implicated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. But that's something the police have always ignored.
Another possible lead is the so-called Skandia Man. Stig Engstrom - an employee at Skandia insurance company, headquartered near to the murder scene - was one of about 20 people to witness the assassination. He killed himself in Police reportedly began investigating Engstrom in One of the things that the Netflix series did get right - and the one thing that everyone in Sweden agrees on - is that the police investigation was an unmitigated failure.
The first chief investigator, Hans Holmer, was ultimately booted off the case in disgrace in and the two men that replaced him lasted less than a year. In , another Pettersson - Christer Pettersson - was convicted for the murder but then released on appeal in when it emerged that police had uncovered neither a motive nor a murder weapon. Pettersson -- Thomas, that is -- was one of the disappointed. Walking with his wife after the film on busy Sveavagen, they were attacked by a gunman from behind.
Palme, 59, was shot in the back and died instantly. Bullets were recovered at the scene from a. Police did not cordon off the murder scene properly, enabling onlookers to walk around and destroy potential forensic evidence.
One man did go to jail. Convicted criminal Christer Pettersson - who has no connection to the prosecutor - was identified in a line-up by Lisbet Palme and jailed for life in But he was quickly released on appeal as no motive had been established and no weapon retrieved.
Pettersson died in More than people have confessed to the murder, the head of the investigation Hans Melander said. A charismatic prime minister who led Sweden's Social Democratic party, Palme was also outspoken on several international issues. At home he had infuriated business owners with reforms and spoken out against nuclear power. He was critical of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in and the US bombing of North Vietnam and had attacked South Africa's "gruesome" regime of apartheid.
The case has dogged Swedish police for decades. Among the theories put forward over the years, Palme might have been assassinated because:. Lisbet Palme died in without knowing conclusively who murdered her husband. Who assassinated this prime minister and why? Image source, Getty Images. Olof Palme was assassinated on a Friday night walking down Sweden's busiest street. His international interest and social conscience were awakened in early years, when as a student he travelled through large parts the United States and Far East.
His passionate commitment and challenging terminology aroused strong feelings both inside and outside Sweden. Some individuals disliked him to the point of hatred and pursued a virtual persecution of his person. But the majority of Swedes, as well as immigrants and refugees, sensed his strong solidarity with the social and economic aspirations of the Swedish people.
The news of his murder cast a deep gloom over the country. Olof Palme and his wife were walking home without security guards from the cinema late in the evening of February 28th , when a man stepped out of the dark and shot him.
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