Editing Olof Palme (section)

== Assassination and aftermath ==
[[File:Palme Trauer 1986.jpg|thumb|right|Mourners at the assassination site]]
[[File:Place of murder of Olof Palme.jpg|thumb|Crossing of Sveavägen and Tunnelgatan where Olof Palme was assassinated.]]
{{Main|Assassination of Olof Palme}}
[[File:Olof Palme place of death.jpg|thumb|Commemorative plaque on the place Olof Palme was assassinated]]
Political violence was little-known in Sweden at the time, and Olof Palme often went about without a bodyguard. Close to midnight on 28 February 1986, he was walking home from a cinema with his wife [[Lisbeth Palme]] in the central Stockholm street [[Sveavägen]] when he was shot in the back at close range. A second shot grazed Lisbeth's back.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at the [[Sabbatsbergs sjukhus|Sabbatsberg Hospital]] at 00:06 [[Central European Time|CET]]. Lisbeth survived without serious injuries.<ref>[http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c4/12/44/6a2655da.pdf The investigation committee report (1999:88), p.&nbsp;159] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202132145/http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c4/12/44/6a2655da.pdf |date=2 December 2007}} (PDF) {{in lang|sv}}</ref>

Deputy Prime Minister [[Ingvar Carlsson]] immediately assumed the duties of Prime Minister, a post he retained until 1991 (and then again in 1994{{ndash}}1996). He also took over the leadership of the Social Democratic Party, which he held until 1996.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=Ingvar Carlsson | encyclopedia=[[Nationalencyklopedin]] | language=sv | url=http://ne.se/ingvar-carlsson | access-date=28 January 2010}}</ref>

Two years later, [[Christer Pettersson]] (d. 2004), a murderer, small-time criminal and drug addict, was convicted of Palme's murder, but his conviction was overturned.<ref name = "Jenkins">{{cite journal |last1=Jenkins |first1=Philip |title=The Assassination of Olaf Palme: Evidence and Ideology |journal=Contemporary Crises |year=1989 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=15–33 |doi=10.1007/bf00728874|s2cid=143889005 }}</ref> Another suspect, [[Victor Gunnarsson]], emigrated to the United States, where he was the victim of an unrelated murder in 1993.<ref>''[[Dagens Nyheter]]'', 2 February 1994.</ref> The assassination remained unsolved.<ref name = "Jenkins" /> 

A third and fourth suspect popularly referred to as "[[Stig Engström (suspected murderer)|The Skandia Man]]" and ''[[Assassination of Olof Palme#GH|GH]]'', after their working place at the [[Skandia]]&nbsp;building next to the crime scene, and police investigation number ("H" representing the eighth letter, i.e. "Suspect Profile No. 8"), took their own lives in 2000 and 2008 respectively. Both fitted the suspect profile vaguely, and owned firearms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/han-talade-om-mordet-med-exfrun-under-sista-samtalet/|title=Skandiamannen talade om Palmemordet under sitt sista samtal|website=Expressen|date=23 May 2018 |access-date=8 June 2020|language=sv}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://palme.libsyn.com/pmp-31-tv-sp-ren-hasse-aro%20|title = PALMEMORDSPODDEN &#91;gamla feeden&#93; (PMP-31-tv-sp-ren-hasse-aro )}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/a24Eya/var-han-palmes-mordare|title = Var han Palmes mördare?| date=6 June 2012 }}</ref> GH was a long-time suspect partly because he had self-described financial motives, and owned the only registered [[.357 Magnum]] in the [[Stockholm]]&nbsp;vicinity not tested and ruled out by authorities, which as yet has not been recovered.

On 18 March 2020, Swedish investigators met in [[Pretoria]] with members of South African intelligence agencies to discuss the case. The South Africans handed over their file from 1986 to their Swedish colleagues. [[Göran Björkdahl]], a Swedish diplomat, had done independent research on Palme's assassination. Major General Chris Thirion, who headed the military intelligence of South Africa during the final years of [[apartheid]] rule, had told Björkdahl in 2015 that he believed South Africa was behind Palme's murder. Swedish investigators announced that they would reveal new information and close the case on 10 June 2020.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Borger |first1=Julian |title=Sweden to present findings on Olof Palme assassination |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/08/case-of-sweden-murdered-pm-1986-olof-palme-south-africa |access-date=9 June 2020 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=9 June 2020 |location=Washington D.C.}}</ref> Earlier remarks by lead investigator Krister Petersson that "there might not be a prosecution" have led commentators to believe that the suspect is dead.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Simon |title=Who killed Swedish PM Olof Palme in 1986? Swedes hope to find out |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-crime-palme/who-killed-swedish-pm-olof-palme-in-1986-swedes-hope-to-find-out-idUSKBN23G0PY |access-date=9 June 2020 |work=[[Reuters]] |date=9 June 2020 |location=Stockholm}}</ref>

On 10 June 2020, Swedish prosecutors stated publicly that they knew who had killed Palme and named [[Stig Engström (suspected murderer)|Stig Engström]], also known as "Skandia Man", as the assassin. Engström was one of about twenty people who had claimed to witness the assassination and was later identified as a potential suspect by Swedish writers [[Lars Larsson (writer)|Lars Larsson]] and [[Thomas Pettersson (writer)|Thomas Pettersson]]<!-- probably not the motorcycle racer-->.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larsson |first1=Lars |title=Nationens fiende: om mordet på Olof Palme |date=2016 |oclc=943384360 |language=Swedish}}</ref> Given that Engström had committed suicide in 2000, the authorities also announced that the investigation into Palme's death was to be closed.<ref>{{cite news |title=Olof Palme murder: Sweden identifies man who killed PM in 1986 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52991406 |access-date=10 June 2020 |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=10 June 2020}}</ref>

Some politicians and journalists in [[Turkey]] relate the assassination of Palme to [[Kurdistan Workers' Party|PKK]] since he was the first in Europe to designate PKK as a terrorist organisation.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/nedim-sener/palmenin-katili-pkkya-asik-isvecin-stockholm-sendromu-2-42069600 | title=Palme'nin katili PKK'ya âşık İsveç'in Stockholm Sendromu (2) | date=25 May 2022 }}</ref>