Palme assassination will not be prescribed

This month 24 years have passed since the unsolved assassination of Sweden’s Prime Minister Olof Palme. Under Swedish law murder has hitherto been prescribed after 25 years, but yesterday the Swedish Parliament passed new legislation which means that there will be no prescription time for certain serious crimes, including murder. The law comes into effect on 1 July.
Olof Palme was assassinated in the street by a lone gunman on his way home from a cinema with his wife in the evening of 28 February 1986. The Palme investigation continues, but it is now a long time since anything significant was reported and neither the assassin nor the weapon has been found.
Christer Pettersson, the man pointed out by Lisbet Palme during a witness confrontation, was first sentenced, but appealed and was acquitted. Some years ago the Palme investigation wanted him tried again, but the Supreme Court ruled that there was not enough new evidence to justify such a step. Pettersson died in 2004.