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Lindh killer wins psychiatric appeal

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, July 8 (UPI) -- The convicted killer of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh will not serve life in prison, but rather in a secure psychiatric facility, the BBC reports.

An appeals court overturned the prison sentence for Mijailo Mijailovic, 25, but upheld his conviction for murder. His defense had sought the lesser charge of manslaughter, arguing Mijailovic had not intended to kill the politician.

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The popular woman many believed had the potential to become prime minister was stabbed Sept. 10 while she was shopping in a Stockholm department store. She died the next day.

After his arrest, an initial psychiatric assessment concluded Mijailovich was not mentally ill when he killed Lindh. But the appeals court said the man needed psychiatric care because he was a "traumatized person with significant psychiatric problems."

He will now be moved from prison to a closed psychiatric ward, the report said.

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