Sweden reveals apartheid agents did not kill their former PM Olof Palme

Swedish prosecutors have named the suspect who they believe killed the former Swedish prime minister Olof Palme in 1986.

It has long been speculated that he may have been assassinated by South African government agents in revenge for his support of the then exiled ANC.

They identified the suspect as Stig Engstrom, a graphic designer who commited suicide in 2000.

Engstrom had been working late on the evening of the murder close to the crime scene. He was said to be motivated by a hatred of Palme’s political views.

As a result they are closing the investigation into Palme’s death, said Chief Prosecutor Krister Petersson.

Palme was shot in the back as he walked home from the cinema with his wife Lisbet in Stockholm.

He had dismissed his security team earlier in the day. The assassination took place on Sweden’s busiest road and more than a dozen witnesses saw the tall man fire the shots before fleeing the scene.

Thousands of people have been interviewed over his death. There was also a range of conspiracy theories involving shadowy forces ranging from the CIA and Kurdish separatists, to the South African security services.

On Monday, the UK’s Guardian newspaper claimed that senior South African State Security Agency officials had met with Swedish authorities in March at the department of international relations and cooperation in Pretoria, where they received a dossier said to contain information on the killing.

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