The widow of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme picked out the man charged with his murder from an identity lineup, saying she recalled him because of his "nasty appearance," according to prosecution documents.
Carl Gustav Christer Pettersson, 42, was charged with the February 1986 murder on Monday and will go on trial June 5 in the Stockholm district court. He has consistently denied the charge since his arrest last December.As well as publishing an official charge sheet and list of witnesses, prosecutors released the transcripts of Pettersson's interrogation sessions and the testimony given by witnesses against him.
It emerged that police have no eyewitness testimony of the killing, nor do they have evidence from experts to link the accused to the murder weapon, which has not been found.
Chief of the 32 prosecution witnesses is Palme's widow Lisbet, who was slightly wounded by the gunman's second shot. When she was confronted with Pettersson in a lineup just after his arrest, she said, "It is No. 8.
"He is just like my description, the form of his face, his eyes and nasty appearance. It's that one who looks like an alcoholic."
Lisbet Palme told police that immediately after her husband was shot, she turned around just as she was shot herself. She saw a man five to seven yards away and for a second had eye contact.
The Palmes were walking home from the cinema when Palme was shot in the back. He died instantly.
Other witnesses in the trial will testify that Pettersson had a deep hatred of Palme, that he had the means of obtaining a weapon and that his alibi for the night of the murder did not stand up.
According to accounts in the Swedish media, Pettersson has a long history of violent crime. He has been portrayed as mentally unstable, an alcoholic and drug abuser who has spent the past 20 years in and out of prison and mental institutions.