Carl Gustaf Christer Pettersson (23 April 1947 – 29 September 2004) was a Swedish criminal who was a suspect in the 1986

assassination of Olof Palme On 28 February 1986, at 23:21 Central European Time, CET (22:21 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC), Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden, was fatally wounded by a single gunshot while walking home from a cinema with his wife Lisbeth Palme on the ...

, the Prime Minister of Sweden. In 1989 he was convicted of the murder in district court but acquitted on appeal the following year.

Life

Pettersson was born on 23 April 1947, to Roland Pettersson (1916–1977) and Inga Maria Hansson (1918–1973) and grew up in a middle-class family in

Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna i ...

outside of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and later moved to the suburb of Sollentuna. In his youth, he attended a theatrical school (''Calle Flygares teaterskola''), where he was considered to be promising by at least one of his teachers. However, Pettersson suffered a head injury from which he would never fully recover. Petterson then began a period of substance abuse, which would eventually force him to drop out of school. In 1970, he stabbed a man to death in central Stockholm, during a street brawl in what the Swedish press dubbed the "bayonet murder". The killing took place just around the corner from what would later be the site of the Palme assassination. Pettersson was sentenced to closed psychiatric care for manslaughter for the killing. After less than two years he was released and continued a life of

petty crime A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary offe ...

, which financed his alcohol and drug abuse.

Tried for murder of Olof Palme

On the night of 28 February 1986, Swedish Prime Minister

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until as ...

, a

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

, was shot and killed in Stockholm as he walked home from a cinema with his wife,

Lisbet Palme Anna Lisbeth Christina Palme (née Beck-Friis; 14 March 1931 – 18 October 2018) was a Swedish children's psychologist, UNICEF chairwoman and the wife of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, until his assassination in 1986. Biography Early lif ...

. The killer quickly escaped and left no traces except two .357-caliber Magnum bullets. Witness statements about his appearance were confused and contradictory. In 1988, Pettersson was detained and accused of Palme's murder after an investigation, which appeared to have started based on rumors about his involvement among fellow small-time criminals and drug addicts. The initial investigation had uncovered little of significance, but once detained, Pettersson was picked out from a ten-person

police lineup A police lineup (in American English) or identity parade (in British English) is a process by which a crime victim or witness's putative identification of a suspect is confirmed to a level that can count as evidence at trial. The suspect, along ...

by Lisbet Palme. Pettersson denied any involvement and claimed he had liked Palme and had left central Stockholm at the time of the murder. However, Lisbet Palme's identification, combined with statements by acquaintances of Pettersson, who stated that he had been near the scene of the crime at the night of the murder, led to a 1989 conviction for murder. Pettersson was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

. Just a few months later, however, Pettersson was freed on appeal. The court cited a lack of evidence, including the missing murder weapon, and raised questions over the reliability of Lisbet Palme's identification. Pettersson was awarded about $50,000 in compensation. Although Pettersson appears to have quickly spent the money on alcohol and drugs, he remained in the media spotlight and then raised his income by selling TV and newspaper interviews. In several interviews, particularly on

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

, Pettersson was encouraged to admit to killing Olof Palme. In such situations, he repeatedly engaged in what-if scenarios that came close to an admission of guilt. However, his confession was not treated seriously, and when cornered, he argued that he had simply come seeking money for yet another television appearance. Police investigators continued to investigate Pettersson, with many reportedly feeling that he had got off on a technicality and was in fact guilty. In 1998, the Swedish Supreme Court rejected a prosecutor's appeal to retry Pettersson by citing that the new evidence put before it was "not of such nature that a new trial can be granted in the case." In June 2020, the Swedish Prosecution Authority announced their conclusion that Stig Engström was the killer, although he would not be prosecuted as he had been dead for 20 years. The report made no mention of Pettersson, whose acquittal in 1989 meant he could not be seriously investigated any further without new evidence. The conclusion was widely criticised and many felt it was based on little to no actual evidence.

Coma and death

After a brawl with police, Pettersson was admitted to hospital on 15 September 2004. On leaving hospital the following day, he reportedly fell and suffered a

cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

and went into a coma. Pettersson died at

Karolinska University Hospital The Karolinska University Hospital () is a teaching hospital affiliated with Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, with two major sites in the municipalities of Solna and Huddinge. The hospital network is the second largest in Sweden, after ...

on 29 September 2004, at the age of 57. Pettersson was buried in Sollentuna on 20 January 2005.

References

Literature

* John Douglas-Gray thriller, ''The Novak Legacy'' ()

External links