A Swedish court brushed aside last-ditch attempts to get the man convicted of murdering Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh off the hook on Tuesday, clearing the way for a possible life sentence next week.
The court rejected a defence request to review psychiatric testing of Mijailo Mijailovic, 25, who was convicted in January of killing Lindh, thus paving the way for him to be sentenced to life in prison, as is widely expected, on March 23.
Lindh died on September 11 of repeated stab wounds to her stomach, chest and arms a day earlier. Her death caused shock among Swedes who expected her to one day lead the country as prime minister and brought back painful memories of the unsolved 1986 killing of prime minister Olof Palme.
When convicting Mijailovic the court allowed for the possibility that he might be mentally unstable and ordered psychiatric testing before handing down its sentence.
The six-week probe concluded that Mijailovic was not mentally ill, neither when he stabbed the foreign minister nor afterwards, but his lawyer on Tuesday asked the court to allow a panel of experts to review the test results and, if necessary, re-test Mijailovic.
Chief prosecutor Agneta Blidberg supported that request, saying that even though a team of doctors had unanimously found Mijailovic to be sane, she was in favour of the move if it would eliminate any doubts about his mental health.
"It is important that there be no questions about his health, otherwise doubt can be sown," she said.
Swedish courts normally allow for such reviews when requested, but chief judge Goeran Nilsson said in a surprise ruling that there were "no good reasons" for ordering such a review, and announced the date for sentencing.
After Tuesday's court decision Blidberg reiterated her demand that Mijailovic be locked up for life, which in Sweden usually means about 15 years but can be longer.
"He should be sentenced to life imprisonment for murder," she said, repeating her claim that Mijailovic "knows what he did" and "his intentions were clear."