Sweden: Swedish police hope to begin questioning a new suspect arrested yesterday on suspicion of murdering the country's foreign minister, Ms Anna Lindh, after releasing another man held for the past week.
Questioning can begin once the new suspect's defence lawyer has been officially appointed.
Police claim the man they have now arrested is "not unlike" the man photographed by surveillance cameras in the department store minutes before Ms Lindh was stabbed. The same was said about the previous suspect.
Ms Lindh was stabbed to death in the NK department store in the heart of Stockholm's shopping district on September 10th.
The photographed man matches eyewitness descriptions of the murderer.
On this occasion though, the level of suspicion is stronger. The man previously arrested was being held on "reasonable grounds" of murdering Ms Lindh but yesterday's arrest was made on "probable grounds". The TT news agency quoted a police source as saying, "we are certain we've got the right man now," although the public are less convinced. The lack of public confidence stems from the still unsolved assassination of the then prime minister Olof Palme in 1986. In that investigation, police made early arrests that yielded nothing. Despite police confidence, the Anna Lindh murder case is now following an eerily similar pattern. Unlike the Lindh investigation, however, police never found the murder weapon used to kill the prime minister.
Police spokesman Mr Lars Grönskog refused to say whether or not DNA samples would be taken from the new suspect. "It may be that we already have them," he said.
Around 2,500 people are listed in the police's DNA register. If the man's DNA is already registered in the Swedish system, then the higher degree of suspicion surrounding him may mean that his DNA can be linked to some of the items of clothing found near the scene of the murder two weeks ago.
Police have already found traces of DNA on a cap believed to belong to the murderer. Other items of clothing and evidence taken from the murder weapon have been sent to England for further forensic analysis.
The investigation team refused to divulge any further details regarding the man, except to say that his name has appeared already in police records and that he is one of a handful of people the police are particularly interested in speaking to in the murder investigation. He is said to be 25, has a criminal record and is thought to have psychiatric problems.
The man was arrested in the Stockholm region, where he is known to reside.