In Sweden: The Assassination of the Prime Minister in Public

When Prosecutor Krister Petersson announced at a press conference in June 2020 his decision to close the investigation into the murder of Olof Palme, citing the death of the suspect, many Swedes were left with a collective sense of disappointment. Will those who remember that late night in February 1986, and who followed the investigation through its main and secondary leads, remain without a clear answer to what happened? An answer that will help them move past this national ordeal and move forward?

Hans Gunnar Axberger goes back to the beginning and provides a comprehensive and detailed account of the world’s largest police investigation, which was so badly mismanaged from the outset that, after a few months, it became clear that the perpetrator would most likely go unpunished.

What happened? How could the Swedish prime minister be assassinated in public? And how could all those police officers’ efforts and countless hours of investigation fail to solve the crime?

As the chief secretary of the government’s investigative committee, Hans-Gunnar Axberger possesses a deeper understanding of the Palme investigation than most people. The assassination of the prime minister is an indispensable event in contemporary history. It is also a story about Sweden, about our self-image, and about our inability to learn from our mistakes.