'Honor killing' alleged in Swedish case

Swedish prosecutors said Monday a 17-year-old boy accused of killing his sister was lying about what investigators called an "honor killing." The 19-year-old woman, identified only as Maria, died this month after being stabbed more than 100 times in the back, head, neck and abdomen, the Swedish news agency TT reported. The woman's brother, whose name was not reported and who told police she was killed by a masked intruder, is on trial, charged in her death. He said his dying sister begged him to call a friend for help when he found her in her Landskrona apartment. "The medical examiner found that her windpipe had been cut. Therefore, she couldn't have spoken with her brother," prosecutor Magnus Larsson told the court Monday. A recording the woman made days before her death was played in court. "When I was 15, I was raped and married off," she could be heard saying. The recording was meant for a women's support group, Tank Om [Think Again] and was on the topic of "honor" violence. Police and prosecutors have investigated the woman's death as a possible "honor killing," in which a person is killed due to the belief the victim has brought dishonor to his or her family, TT reported. "It's possible to prove that Maria lived within an honor culture and that the accused and the rest of the family had opinions about her way of life," said attorney Elisabeth Massi Fritz.