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Arrest for Swede suspected of killing Russian woman Anna Medvedeva extended for month

Mikael Svantesson, Medvedeva’s former common law husband, will be kept in the prison for next four weeks until the end of the investigation

OSLO, October 23 (Itar-Tass) — Swedish citizen Mikael Svantesson, who is accused of killing Russian citizen Anna Medvedeva and kidnapping their child, will be kept in the prison for next four weeks until the end of the investigation. The court of the low instance in the Norwegian province Telemark, where the murder was committed on October 14, passed the relevant ruling on Monday.

The Telemark police department reported that Svantesson will be interrogated again on Tuesday. The Swedish citizen pleaded guilty during the interrogation before.

Medvedeva’s former common law husband is being kept in prison in the city of Skien 130 kilometres away from Oslo. He is permitted to keep the correspondence and receive the visitors. The trial over the murder case will be launched before the end of the investigation. If four weeks given by the court for this do not expire, the judge will retry the extension of the term in arrest for the suspected killer.

The police will be investigating the details of the tragedy, which broke out at the ski resort Gronkjaer 18 kilometres away from Bo, for no less than two months, Svatesson’s lawyer Bjorn Nerum said before. The 26-year-old Murmansk woman was found dead at an empty cottage. The forensic expertise was conducted, but its results are not made public yet.

The Norwegian media reported that the main motive for the murder has most likely been a row over the right for guardianship over the child of Medvedeva and Svantesson. Last week a 11-month-old Zacarias-Vitaly, whom the father was attempting to bring to Sweden, was brought back to Norway and passed for care to his grandmother and great aunt.

An experienced lawyer is consulting the relatives of the killed woman, Russian Consul in Norway Artyom Barkov told Itar-Tass on Monday. The granting of guardianship or adoption and the deprivation of the parental rights from the father of the child are being considered. The Russian Embassy in Oslo is negotiating with Norwegian social services and municipal authorities the arrangements for Medvedeva’s funerals. According to the wishes of the relatives the Russian woman will be buried in Norway, where she lived and studied for the last two years.