throat. He still suffered from the after-effects of his stroke and had to concentrate to pronounce the words.
"I was appointed as trustee for Lisbeth Salander after her mother was so severely beaten by Lisbeth's father that she was disabled and could no longer take care of her daughter. She suffered permanent brain damage and repeated brain haemorrhages."
"You're speaking of Alexander Zalachenko, I presume." Ekstrom was leaning forward attentively.
"That's correct," Palmgren said.
Ekstrom said: "I would ask you to remember that we are now into a subject which is highly classified."
"It's hardly a secret that Alexander Zalachenko persistently abused Lisbeth's mother," Giannini said.
Teleborian raised his hand.
"The matter is probably not quite as self-evident as Fru Giannini is presenting it."
"What do you mean by that?" Giannini said.
"There is no doubt that Lisbeth Salander witnessed a family tragedy... that something triggered a serious beating in 1991. But there is no documentation to suggest that this was a situation that went on for many years, as Fru Giannini claims. It could have been an isolated incident or a quarrel that got out of hand. If truth be told, there is not even any documentation to point towards Herr Zalachenko as Lisbeth's mother's aggressor. We have been informed that she was a prostitute, so there could have been a number of other possible perpetrators."
Giannini looked in astonishment at Teleborian. She seemed to be speechless for a moment. Then her eyes bored into him.
"Could you expand on that?" she said.
"What I mean is that in practice we have only Lisbeth Salander's assertions to go on."
"And?"
"First of all, there were two sisters, twins in fact. Camilla Salander has never made any such claims, indeed she has denied that such a thing occurred. And if there was abuse to the extent your client maintains, then it would naturally have been noted in social welfare reports and so forth."
"Is there an interview with Camilla Salander that we might examine?"
"Interview?"
"Do you have any documentation to show that Camilla Salander was even asked about what occurred at their home?"
Salander squirmed in her seat at the mention of her sister. She glanced at Giannini.
"I presume that the social welfare agency filed a report - "
"You have just stated that Camilla Salander never made any assertions that Alexander Zalachenko abused their mother, that on the contrary she denied it. That was a categorical statement. Where did you get that information?"
Teleborian sat in silence for several seconds. Giannini could see that his eyes changed when he realized that he had made a mistake. He could anticipate what it was that she wanted to introduce, but there was no way to avoid the question.
"I seem to remember that it appeared in the police report," he said at last.
"You seem to remember... I myself have searched high and low for police reports about the incident on Lundagatan during which Alexander Zalachenko was severely burned. The only ones available are the brief reports written by the officers at the scene."
"That's possible - "
"So I would very much like to know how it is that you were able to read a police report that is not available to the defence."
"I can't answer that," Teleborian said. "I was shown the report in 1991 when I wrote a forensic psychiatric report on your client after the attempted murder of her father."
"Was Prosecutor Ekstrom shown this report?"
Ekstrom squirmed. He stroked his goatee. By now he knew that he had underestimated Advokat Giannini. However, he had no reason to lie.
"Yes, I've seen it."
"Why wasn't the defence given access to this material?"
"I didn't consider it of interest to the trial."
"Could you please tell me how you were allowed to see this report? When I asked the police, I was told only that no such report exists."
"The report was written by the Security Police. It's classified."
"So Sapo wrote a report on a case involving grievous bodily harm on a woman and decided to make the report classified."
"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 Bjorck from the Immigration Division of S.I.S."
"Thank you. Is that the same Gunnar Bjorck 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 - "