“I don’t talk to policemen,” Salander said flatly.
Palmgren stood up from his wheelchair. He supported himself by leaning on the edge of the table. His voice was very clear.
“Our client on principle does not speak to the police or to other persons of authority, and least of all to psychiatrists. The reason is simple. From the time she was a child she tried time and again to talk to police and social workers to explain that her mother was being abused by Alexander Zalachenko. The result in every instance was that she was punished because government civil servants had decided that Zalachenko was more important than she was.”
He cleared his throat and continued.
“And when she eventually concluded that nobody was listening to her, her only means of protecting her mother was to fight Zalachenko with violence. And then this bastard who calls himself a doctor” – he pointed at Teleborian – “wrote a fabricated psychiatric diagnosis which described her as mentally ill, and it gave him the opportunity to keep her in restraints at St Stefan’s for 380 days. What a bastard.”
Palmgren sat down. Judge Iversen was surprised by this outburst. He turned to Salander.
“Would you perhaps like to take a break…”
“Why?” Salander said.
“Alright, then we’ll continue. Advokat Giannini, the recording will be examined, and I will require a technical opinion to verify its authenticity. But I cannot tolerate seeing any more of these appalling scenes at present. Let’s proceed.”
“Gladly. I too find them appalling,” said Giannini. “My client has been subjected to multiple instances of physical and mental abuse and legal misconduct. And the person most to blame for this is Dr Peter Teleborian. He betrayed his oath as a physician and he betrayed his patient. Together with a member of an illegal group within the Security Police, Gunnar Bjorck, he patched together a forensic psychiatric assessment for the purpose of locking up an inconvenient witness. I believe that this case must be unique in Swedish jurisprudence.”
“These are outrageous accusations,” Teleborian said. “I have done my best to help Lisbeth Salander. She tried to murder her father. It’s perfectly obvious that there’s something wrong with her –”
Giannini interrupted him.
“I would now like to bring to the attention of the court Dr Teleborian’s second forensic psychiatric assessment of my client, presented at this trial today. I maintain that it is a lie, just as the report from 1991 was a lie.”
“Well, this is simply –” Teleborian spluttered.
“Judge Iversen, could you please ask the witness to stop interrupting me?”
“Herr Teleborian…”
“I will be quiet. But these are outrageous accusations. It’s not surprising that I’m upset –”
“Herr Teleborian, please be quiet until a question is directed at you. Do go on, Advokat Giannini.”
“This is the forensic psychiatric assessment that Dr Teleborian has presented to the court. It is based on what he has termed ‘observations’ of my client which were supposed to have taken place after she was moved to Kronoberg prison on June 5. The examination was supposed to have been concluded on July 5.”
“Yes, so I have understood,” Judge Iversen said.
“Dr Teleborian, is it the case that you did not have the opportunity to examine or observe my client before June 6? Before that she was at Sahlgrenska hospital in Goteborg, where she was being kept in isolation, as we know.”
“Yes.”
“You made attempts on two separate occasions to gain access to my client at Sahlgrenska. Both times you were denied admittance.”
Giannini opened her briefcase and took out a document. She walked around her table and handed it to Judge Iversen.
“I see,” the judge said. “This appears to be a copy of Dr Teleborian’s report. What is your point?”
“I would like to call upon two witnesses. They are waiting outside the courtroom now.”
“Who are these witnesses?”
“They are Mikael Blomkvist from
“And they are outside?”
“Yes.”
“Show them in,” Judge Iversen said.
“This is highly irregular,” Prosecutor Ekstrom said.
Ekstrom had watched in extreme discomfort as Giannini shredded his key witness. The film had been devastating evidence. The judge ignored Ekstrom and gestured to the bailiff to open the door to admit Blomkvist and Edklinth.
“I would first like to call upon Mikael Blomkvist.”
“Then I would ask that Herr Teleborian stand down for a while,” Judge Iverson said.
“Are you finished with me?” Teleborian said.
“No, not by any means,” Giannini said.
Blomkvist replaced Teleborian in the witness box. Judge Iversen swiftly dealt with the formalities, and Blomkvist took the oath.
“Mikael,” Giannini said, and then she smiled. “I would find it difficult, if your honour will forgive me, to call my brother Herr Blomkvist, so I will settle for his first name.”
She went to Judge Iversen’s bench and asked for the forensic psychiatric report which she had just handed to him. She then gave it to Blomkvist.
“Have you seen this document before?”
“Yes, I have. I have three versions in my possession. The first I acquired on May 12, the second on May 19, and the third – this one – on June 3.”
“Can you tell us how you acquired the copies?”
“I received them in my capacity as a journalist from a source I do not intend to name.”
Salander stared at Teleborian. He was once more deathly pale.
“What did you do with the report?”
“I gave it to Torsten Edklinth at Constitutional Protection.”
“Thank you, Mikael. Now I’d like to call Torsten Edklinth,” Giannini said, taking back the report. She handed it to Judge Iversen and the procedure with the oath was repeated.
“Superintendent Edklinth, is it correct that you received a forensic psychiatric report on Lisbeth Salander from Mikael Blomkvist?”
“Yes, it is.”
“When did you receive it?”
“It was logged in at S.I.S. on June 4.”
“And this is the same report I have just handed to Judge Iversen?”
“If my signature is on the back, then it’s the same one.”
The judge turned over the document and saw Edklinth’s signature there.
“Superintendent Edklinth, could you explain how you happened to have a forensic psychiatric report in your possession which claims have analysed a patient who was still in isolation at Sahlgrenska?”
“Yes, I can. Herr Teleborian’s report is a sham. It was put together with the help of a person by the name of Jonas Sandberg, just as he produced a similar document in 1991 with Gunnar Bjorck.”
“That’s a lie,” Teleborian said in a weak voice.
“Is it a lie?” Giannini said.
“No, not at all,” Edklinth said. “I should perhaps mention that Jonas Sandberg is one of a dozen or so individuals who were arrested today by order of the Prosecutor General. Sandberg is being held as an accomplice to the murder of Gunnar Bjorck. He is part of a criminal unit operating within the Security Police which has been protecting Alexander Zalachenko since the ’70s. This same group of officers was responsible for the decision to lock up Lisbeth Salander in 1991. We have incontrovertible evidence, as well as a confession from the unit’s director.”
