Stockholm - Swedish prosecutors requested on Friday the continued detention of a suspect, arrested earlier this week in connection with the murder of foreign minister Anna Lindh, making his indictment more likely.
Per Olof Svensson "is suspected of murder at NK, Hamngatan in Stockholm, on the 10th of September 2003", district court actuary Anita Andreasson said.
Lindh died on September 11, a day after being stabbed in the NK department store in central Stockholm, in an incident which shocked Sweden and many worldwide.
The prosecutor's request, announced 90 minutes before a midday legal deadline, increased the likelihood of Svensson being charged with the murder of the popular minister, although prosecutors stressed that the point had not yet been reached.
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'Very few events stop the clocks. One such event is the death of Anna Lindh' The degree of suspicion was still "low", Andreasson said.
Police, running DNA tests, had until Friday to present evidence to chief prosecutors Agneta Blidberg, who submitted the request, and Krister Petersson.
If the request is granted, Svensson, who has denied any involvement in the killing, can be held for up to another two weeks before police have to present fresh evidence to support the case.
The court will deliberate later on Friday, but it was not clear when its decision would be announced.
Prosecutors argued that Svensson might flee or destroy evidence if set free, stressing the "extreme importance that the suspect be held in detention pending further investigation of the crime", Andreasson said.
'She loved the world, and was loved by the world' Police, who again interrogated Svensson overnight, were believed to be pinning their hopes on DNA testing, matching his samples with those found in blood and clothing left behind at the scene of the crime.
Medical staff have carried out both physical and psychiatric tests on the man, and have taken samples to compare with blood and other traces found in the department store where Lindh was fatally stabbed.
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