Olof Palme

Sven Olof Joachim Palme {{Audio|sv-Olof_Palme.ogg|listen}} (January 30, 1927 ? February 28, 1986) was a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Social Democrat Party from 1969 to 1986 and was Prime Minister of Sweden with a Privy Council Government from October 1969 to October 1976 and with a Cabinet Government starting in October 1982. Palme was assassinated in 1986 and was succeeded by Ingvar Carlsson.

Assassination

Olof Palme could often be seen without any bodyguard protection, and the night of his murder was one such occasion. Walking home from a movie theatre with his wife Lisbet on the central Stockholm street Sveavägen, close to midnight on February 28, 1986, the couple were attacked by a lone gunman. Palme was shot twice in the stomach, his wife was shot in the back.

Related Topics:
Bodyguard - Murder - Movie theatre - February 28 - 1986

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Police said that a taxi-driver used his mobile radio to raise the alarm. Two young girls sitting in a car close to the scene of the shooting tried to help the Prime Minister. He was rushed to hospital but was dead on arrival; Mrs Palme's wound was treated and she recovered. The attacker escaped eastwards on the crossing Tunnelgatan and disappeared.

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Palme's assassination remains unsolved with a number of conspiracy theories surrounding the murder:

Related Topics:
Assassination - Conspiracy theories

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a. a right-wing extremist Victor Gunnarsson was quickly arrested for the murder but was soon released, after a dispute between the police and prosecuting attorneys;

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b. the Kurdish connection - Hans Holmér, the Stockholm police commissioner, followed up an intelligence lead passed to him (supposedly by Bertil Wedin) and arrested a number of Kurds living in Sweden, after allegations that one of their organisations, the PKK, was responsible for the murder. The lead proved inconclusive however and ultimately led to his removal from the Palme murder investigation. Fifteen years later, in April 2001, a team of Swedish police officers went to interview Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in a Turkish prison about Ocalan's allegations that a dissident Kurdish group, led by his ex-wife, murdered Palme. The police team's visit proved futile;

Related Topics:
Hans Holmér - Bertil Wedin - PKK - Abdullah Ocalan

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c. the fanatic - more than a year and a half after Palme's death Christer Pettersson, a small-time criminal, drug user and alcoholic, was arrested for the murder in December 1988. Identified by Mrs Palme as the killer, Pettersson was tried and convicted of the murder, but was later acquitted on appeal to the High Court. The appeal succeeded mainly because the murder weapon had not been found. Additional evidence against Pettersson surfaced in the late 1990s, mostly stemming from various petty criminals who had altered their stories but also from a confession made by Pettersson. The chief prosecutor, Agneta Blidberg, considered re-opening the case. But she acknowledged that a confession alone would not be sufficient, saying: "He must say something about the weapon because the appeals court set that condition in its ruling. That is the only technical evidence that could be cited as a reason to re-open the case." While the legal case against Pettersson therefore remains closed, the police file on the investigation cannot be closed until both murder weapon and murderer are found;

Related Topics:
Christer Pettersson - Criminal - Alcoholic - 1988 - 1990s - Agneta Blidberg

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d. the apartheid South Africa connection - on February 21, 1986 - a week before he died - Palme made the keynote address to the Swedish People's Parliament against Apartheid which was held in Stockholm and was attended by hundreds of anti-apartheid sympathizers as well as leaders and officials from the ANC (Oliver Tambo) and the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Over ten years later, in September 1996, Colonel Eugene De Kock, a former South African police officer, gave evidence to the Supreme Court in Pretoria. Col De Kock alleged that the Swedish Prime Minister was shot and killed in 1986 because "Mr Palme strongly opposed the apartheid regime and Sweden made substantial contributions to the ANC." De Kock also named those alleged to be responsible for the murder: another former South African police officer - turned superspy - Craig Williamson; Swedish mercenary Bertil Wedin (living in Northern Cyprus since 1985); and Anthony White, a former Rhodesian soldier with links to the South African security services. As a result, Swedish police investigators visited South Africa in October 1996 but drew a blank.

Related Topics:
February 21 - 1986 - ANC - Oliver Tambo - Anti-Apartheid Movement - Pretoria - Craig Williamson - Bertil Wedin - Northern Cyprus

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