By Kelvin Obambon
Swedish prosecutors have named the man who they say killed former Swedish prime minister Olof Palme in 1986, ending years of mystery.
They said it was Stig Engstrom, a graphic designer known as “Skandia Man” who killed himself in 2000.
As a result they were closing the investigation into Palme’s death, Chief Prosecutor Krister Petersson said.
Palme was shot in the back as he walked home from the cinema with his wife in Stockholm.
He had already dismissed his security team for the day. The assassination took place on Sweden’s busiest road and more than a dozen witnesses saw a man fire the shots before fleeing the scene.
Thousands of people have been interviewed over his death. A petty criminal was convicted of the killing but the verdict was later dismissed.
Palme, who led Sweden’s Social Democrats for decades and served two periods as prime minister, was one of the architects of Scandinavia’s model of a strong welfare state, and a fierce Cold War-era critic of both the United States and Soviet Union.
Sources: BBC, Reuters
