Lisbet Palme
 Lisbet Palme    | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Anna Lisbet Christina Beck-Friis 14 March 1931 |
| Died | 18 October 2018 (Age 87) |
| Alma mater | Stockholm University |
| Spouse | Olof Palme |
Lisbet Palme (14 March 1931 – 18 October 2018) was a Swedish children's psychologist, UNICEF chairwoman and the wife of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, until his assassination in 1986.[1]
Contents
Eye witness
Lisbet Palme was an eyewitness to the murder of her husband on the night of 28 February 1986 when she had been grazed by a bullet but not seriously hurt. In 1988 a career criminal with a substance-abuse problem, Christer Pettersson, was convicted of the crime, in part on the strength of Lisbet Palme’s identification of him as the killer. But the next year a higher court set him free, citing a shortage of evidence and questions about the credibility of her identification.[2] According to a detective present, she also made remarks that it was evident that Pettersson was an alcoholic.[3][4] The comments were interpreted by some as if she had been informed that the suspect was an alcoholic and a drug addict. Several experts have, over the years, pointed towards the possibility that Lisbet Palme may have identified the wrong man.[5]
Links to South Africa
At his criminal trial in Pretoria in September 1996, Eugene de Kock dropped a bombshell by implicating an apartheid-era South African spy in the still-unsolved assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme a decade earlier. De Kock said "Operation Long Reach" a now-defunct South African military intelligence project headed by operative Craig Williamson had "played a role" in the murder of Palme, a staunch apartheid foe.
De Kock gave no other details, but he said he had already told prosecutors what he knows. Rumours of South African involvement had circulated for years, but De Kock's allegations apparently offered fresh leads:
- "A part of the De Kock information is new," Lars Jonsson, deputy director of the police investigation in Stockholm, told the Swedish news agency TT.[6]
Visit to South Africa
In a 1996 video reporting on Eugene de Kock's revelation, Lisbet Palme was pictured greeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu on her visit to South Africa:
- "Olof Palme's widow, Lisbet, visited South Africa in January (1996) as part of a United Nations sponsored Eminent Persons Group to examine the impact of violence on children.
- "While in the country she met Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
- "Lisbet Palme was with her husband when he was shot and killed walking home from a cinema.
- "If Eugene de Kock's allegations are true, she may finally learn the reasons behind her husband's murder."[7]
Mandela State Visit
In March 1999 President Nelson Mandela paid a two-day State Visit to Sweden when Lisbet Palme greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. King Carl Gustaf looks on.[8]
References
- ↑ "Lisbet Palme, widow of murdered Swedish PM, dies aged 87"
- ↑ "Lisbeth Palme, Witness to an Assassination, Dies at 87"
- ↑ "LEDARE: Lisbet Palme har skäl att vara kritisk"
- ↑ "Reports: Widow of slain former Swedish PM Olof Palme dies"
- ↑ "Palmeexpert: Lisbet hade fel i vittnesmålet"
- ↑ "Apartheid Spy Tied to ’86 Assassination of Sweden’s Palme"
- ↑ "SOUTH AFRICA: CONVICTED DE KOCK IMPLICATES SPY IN 1986 ASSASSINATION"
- ↑ "State Visit to Sweden by Nelson Mandela (17-18 March 1999)"
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