Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest, The - Stieg Larsson [252]
“It’s because of the perpetrator … Alexander Zalachenko. He was a political refugee.”
“Who wrote the report?”
Silence.
“I don’t hear anything. What name was on the title page?”
“It was written by Gunnar Björck from the Immigration Division of S.I.S.”
“Thank you. Is that the same Gunnar Björck who my client claims worked with Doctor Teleborian to fabricate the forensic psychiatric report about her in 1991?”
“I assume it is.”
Giannini turned her attention back to Teleborian.
“In 1991 you committed Lisbeth Salander to the secure ward of St Stefan’s children’s psychiatric clinic—”
“That’s not correct.”
“Is it not?”
“No. Lisbeth Salander was sentenced to the secure psychiatric ward. This was the outcome of an entirely routine legal action in a district court. We’re talking about a seriously disturbed minor. That was not my own decision—”
“In 1991 a district court decided to lock up Lisbeth Salander in a children’s psychiatric clinic. Why did the district court make that decision?”
“The district court made a careful assessment of your client’s actions and mental condition – she had tried to murder her father with a petrol bomb, after all. This is not an activity that a normal teenager would engage in, whether they are tattooed or not.” Teleborian gave her a polite smile.
“And what did the district court base their judgement on? If I’ve understood correctly, they had only one forensic medical assessment to go on. It was written by yourself and a policeman by the name of Gunnar Björck.”
“This is about Fröken Salander’s conspiracy theories, Fru Giannini. Here I would have to—”
“Excuse me, but I haven’t asked a question yet,” Giannini said and turned once again to Palmgren. “Holger, we were talking about your meeting Dr Teleborian’s superior, Dr Caldin.”
“Yes. In my capacity as trustee for Lisbeth Salander. At that stage I had met her only very briefly. Like everyone else, I got the impression that she had a serious mental illness. But since it was my job, I undertook to research her general state of health.”
“And what did Dr Caldin say?”
“She was Dr Teleborian’s patient, and Dr Caldin had not paid her any particular attention except in routine assessments and the like. It wasn’t until she had been there for more than a year that I began to discuss how she could be rehabilitated back into society. I suggested a foster family. I don’t know exactly what went on internally at St Stefan’s, but after about a year Dr Caldin began to take an interest in her.”
“How did that manifest itself?”
“I discovered that he had arrived at an opinion that differed from Dr Teleborian’s,” Palmgren said. “He told me once that he had decided to change the type of care she was receiving. I did not understand until later that he was referring to the strap restraints. Dr Caldin had decided that she should not be restrained. He didn’t think there was any reason for it.”
“So he went against Dr Teleborian’s directives?”
Ekström interrupted. “Objection. That’s hearsay.”
“No,” Palmgren said. “Not entirely. I asked for a report on how Lisbeth Salander was supposed to re-enter society. Dr Caldin wrote that report. I still have it today.”
He handed a document to Giannini.
“Can you tell us what it says?”
“It’s a letter from Dr Caldin to me dated October 1992, which is when Lisbeth had been at St Stefan’s for twenty months. Here Dr Caldin expressly writes that, I quote, My decision for the patient not to be restrained or force-fed has also produced the noticeable effect that she is now calm. There is no need for psychoactive drugs. However, the patient is extremely withdrawn and uncommunicative and needs continued supportive therapies. End quote.”
“So he expressly writes that it was his decision,” Giannini said.
“That is correct. It was also Dr Caldin himself who decided that Lisbeth should be able to re-enter society by being placed with a foster family.”
Salander nodded. She remembered Dr Caldin the same way she remembered every detail of her stay at