Sweden's High Court has ordered the convicted murderer of Foreign Minister Anna Lindh to be moved to a secure psychiatric unit, citing overwhelming evidence he was mentally ill.
The court ruling canceled the life imprisonment sentence imposed on 26-year-old Mijailo Mijailovic by a lower court in March. It did not say how long Mijailovic should stay in a mental institution.
Mijailovic had admitted stabbing Lindh in a department store in central Stockholm in September but denied intent to kill.
The court said Mijailovic had acted on an impulse when he attacked Lindh. "No motive for the deed has emerged and in the opinion of the high court it is also unclear to what extent the deed was planned," the court said.
After hearing testimony from psychiatrists who carried out mental checks before the first trial and others who conducted tests before the appeal, the court concluded there was "massive support for the assessment that Maijailo Mijailovic is suffering from a psychiatric disorder".
The killing of the popular politician in front of several witnesses shocked a nation where top political figures rarely had bodyguards despite the 1986 assassination of Prime Minister Olof Palme by a lone gunman who has yet to be found.
"The high court assumes the attack (on Lindh) was some kind of impulsive act," the court said in its ruling. The prosecution had argued Mijailovic had been watching Lindh for several minutes before the attack and had had time to plan it. The prosecution demanded life imprisonment for murder - the severest penalty under Swedish law.
Ms Lindh, a 46-year-old mother of two, was widely tipped before her death as Sweden's next prime minister.