Olof Palme: Sweden hopes to find out who killed prime minister in 1986

Prosecutor will announce findings of investigation on Wednesday

PM was gunned down in the street after leaving cinema with wife (AFP/Getty)

The Swedish prime minister Olof Palme was shot dead at close range in Stockholm in 1986 after leaving a cinema with his wife and son.

Thirty-four years later, Swedes hope to find out who killed Palme when the conclusions of an investigation are made public on Wednesday.

Prosecutor Krister Petersson, who took over the murder investigation in 2017, will announcing the findings.

The failure to find Palme’s murderer has long been a source of unease in Sweden, a country that prides itself on its openness and tolerance.

“It is an open wound for Sweden in that we do not know what happened,” prime minister Stefan Lofven said in February.

In the same month, Mr Petersson said that he was “positive about being able to present what happened and who is responsible for it”.

However, he hinted at the time that there might not be a prosecution, leading some to suggest that the suspected killer is dead.

The comment focused attention on a suspect known as “Skandia-man”, a graphic designer who is understood to have been present at the scene of the crime. He died in 2000.

One man was previously convicted for Palme's murder. However, the verdict was later overturned.

Christer Pettersson – whose name happens to be similar to that of the chief prosecutor on the case - was imprisoned for the murder after Palme's wife Lisbeth identified him as the gunman.

Pettersson was released in 1989 after the decision was overturned. He died in 2004.

Additional reporting from Reuters