New suspect in Lindh murder hunt

Sweden's leaders paid tribute to Lindh last Friday

Swedish police have released a man held on suspicion of murdering Foreign Minister Anna Lindh - but have made a fresh arrest.

The first suspect was detained last week and held for questioning about the fatal stabbing of Ms Lindh in a Stockholm department store on 10 September.

His release was confirmed by police at a news conference in the Swedish capital - they said they had failed to secure evidence to link him to the crime.

The second suspect had been arrested on a "higher degree of suspicion", they said.

"We have stronger suspicions against this suspect than the previous one, but we're not releasing any details," police spokesman Lars Groenskog told the Associated Press.

The daily Expressen newspaper quoted an unnamed police official as saying detectives had shadowed the man "every minute" over the past few days.

The Swedish authorities have not revealed his name or the circumstances of his detention, saying only that he had been arrested in Stockholm on Wednesday morning "without incident".

The first suspect was detained at a restaurant

Police have three days to hold the second suspect before having to apply for a court-approved detention order to keep him in custody for another week.

Last Friday, a Swedish court gave police permission to hold the first suspect for a further week.

The first man, named in newspapers as Per Olof Svensson, 35, was detained on 16 September because of his likeness to a man filmed by CCTV cameras shortly before the murder.

His name was never officially confirmed by police.

Police in the Lindh case have been anxious to avoid a repeat of the failure to solve the 1986 murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme, which happened only a few blocks away from the scene of Ms Lindh's murder.

In that case, the murder weapon was never found and a man convicted was freed on appeal.

Key clues

The knife used to kill Ms Lindh was recovered near the murder scene, and has been undergoing forensic examination. UK experts, who have more sophisticated techniques available, were called in to help.

DNA traces were also found on a baseball cap thought to have been left behind by the killer.

The murder of Ms Lindh happened only days before Sweden's euro referendum, in which Ms Lindh played a leading role in the Yes campaign.

The vote went ahead as scheduled, with voters rejecting membership of the currency by 56% to 42%.