Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Mijailo Mijailovic was sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh by Sweden's highest court, reversing an earlier decision to place him in psychiatric care.

The court overturned a ruling on the 2003 slaying by the Svea Court of Appeal, Sweden's second-highest court, which in July judged him mentally ill and placed him in psychiatric care, the court said in a press release on its Web site today.

``That he is suffering from a personality disorder must be considered certain, but not that it is severe enough to constitute a serious mental disorder today or at the time of the crime,'' the court said in the statement.

Mijailovic fatally stabbed Lindh at a Stockholm department store on Sept. 10 last year. The minister, 46 and a mother of two, died the following day, robbing Sweden of its next prime minister, according to her mentor and the country's leader, Goeran Persson.

Her killer in March was first given a life sentence for the slaying, before the Svea Court of Appeal reversed the decision. Mijailovic, who confessed in January, told police that Jesus Christ commanded him to attack Lindh, four days ahead of the referendum on Sweden adopting the euro, which was defeated.

``I think it was Jesus, that he has chosen me,'' Mijailovic told police. ``One can't resist the voices, one can't manage to stand up to them.''

Palme Murder

A life sentence in Sweden typically means about 14 to 16 years in prison. Sweden doesn't have the death penalty. Mijailovic must also pay Lindh's two sons 100,000 kronor ($14,866) each in damages, raising the amount from 50,000, the court also decided.

The former Foreign Minister was without bodyguards when attacked, reviving memories of the 1986 murder of Olof Palme, prime minister at the time. Palme was unprotected when shot to death after going to the cinema in Stockholm's city center.

Christer Pettersson, a Swede with a lengthy criminal record, was convicted of murdering Palme in 1989, yet was later freed on appeal. Palme's killing remains unsolved. Pettersson died earlier this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dara Doyle in Stockholm at ddoyle1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 2, 2004 04:05 EST