Authority Sought to Hold Palme Murder Suspect

STOCKHOLM —  Swedish authorities asked a court Monday for authority to continue holding a 32-year-old Swede they have implicated in the murder of Prime Minister Olof Palme.

“As a result of investigations carried out to date, probable reasons have emerged which, in the public prosecutor’s view, indicate that the man participated in the murder as a perpetrator,” public prosecutor K.G. Svensson said in a statement.

The suspect was not named in accordance with the Swedish practice of prohibiting such disclosure in the media. However, sources have identified the suspect as Victor Gunnarsson and said he holds extreme right-wing views in sharp contract to Palme’s socialist views. He allegedly had Palme’s name on a “death list” and reportedly once fled to California in fear that Palme would allow Kremlin “devils” to take over Sweden.

Svensson’s statement did not make it clear whether the suspect was the triggerman or an accomplice in Palme’s murder. And Stockholm Police Chief Hans Holmer refused to say whether the man was thought to have fired the shot that killed Palme Feb. 28 as he and his wife, Lisbeth, left a Stockholm movie theater.

The suspect was arrested last Wednesday and under Swedish law could be held only for five days unless a court formally charged him with a crime. Svensson asked the court to charge the suspect with murder in order to continue an investigation. The court is expected to rule on the request Thursday.

Hostile to Prime Minister

The prosecutor’s statement said a search of the man’s home has clearly shown that he was hostile to the prime minister.

“According to one witness, the man made remarks in a telephone call in February to the effect that ‘Palme was on the death list’ and ‘blood would flow on the streets of Stockholm,’ ” the statement said.

It added that the suspect could not produce an alibi for the evening of the murder and had changed his story several times when confronted with witnesses. Svensson said the man had been seen in the immediate vicinity of the murder scene several minutes after the shooting.

“The man denies the crime,” the prosecutor said. “He has not been tied to the crime by inquiries to date, but as there are probable reasons for suspicion . . . it is very important that he should be held until the suspicions have been investigated further.”

Holmer told reporters the suspect “lies about, or refuses to disclose, his behavior on the evening of the murder. He was observed within the first hour after the murder at two different places--a street near the murder scene and a cinema.”

Asked how close to the scene the suspect had been seen, Holmer replied, “Pretty close.”

Holmer said the man tried unsuccessfully to flag down a car on a street soon after the murder. He then went into a movie long after the performance started.

“Everything gives the impression that he was running away,” the police chief said.

A Swedish newspaper quoted the ex-wife of the suspect as saying they had moved to the United States in 1981 because of his hatred of Palme and his fear that Sweden would be taken over by the Soviet Union.

“For him the United States was the angel and the Soviet Union the devil,” the woman told the newspaper Aftonbladet. “He thought Palme would lead Sweden into the devil’s grasp.”

Aftonbladet did not name the woman, who lives in Los Angeles. The newspaper said the couple married in June, 1981, and then moved to the United States. They returned to Sweden in October, 1981, and divorced the following year.