Murder trial of Swedish foreign minister opens

Mijailo Mijailovic, a 25-year-old Swede born to Serbian parents, confessed last week to police that he fatally stabbing Lindh, one of the country's most popular politicians, but his lawyer said his client did not mean to take her life.

"He admits that he attacked Lindh with a knife and that he caused her death, but he denies intending to kill her," his lawyer Peter Althin told the court.

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But prosecutor Agneta Blidberg defended the murder charge, which implies that Mijailovic had every intent of killing the politician when he pounced on her with a knife in a crowded Stockholm department store on September 10.

Mijailovic, who is to testify later Wednesday, appeared calm as he entered the courtroom and took his seat facing the judge's bench. Sporting a beard and cropped hair, Mijailovic wore a dark jumper and dark trousers, and at one point glanced at the packed courtroom behind him.