"Yes . . ."
"Would her medical records perhaps give us more accurate information?"
"It's possible."
"Excellent," Giannini said, taking out a large sheaf of paper from her briefcase. "Then I ask to be allowed to hand over to the court a copy of Lisbeth Salander's medical records from St. Stefan's. I have counted the number of notes about the restraining straps and find that the figure is 381, one more than my client claims."
Teleborian's eyes widened.
"Stop . . . this is classified information. Where did you get that from?"
"I got it from a reporter at Millennium magazine. It can hardly be classified if it's lying around a newspaper's offices. Perhaps I should add that extracts from these medical records were published today in Millennium. I believe, therefore, that even this district court should have the opportunity to look at the records themselves."
"This is illegal--"
"No, it isn't. Lisbeth Salander has given her permission for the extracts to be published. My client has nothing to hide."
"Your client has been declared incompetent and has no right to make any such decision for herself."
"We'll come back to the declaration of incompetence. But first we need to examine what happened to her at St. Stefan's."
Judge Iversen frowned as he accepted the papers that Giannini handed to him.
"I haven't made a copy for the prosecutor; he received a copy of this privacy-invading document more than a month ago."
"How did that happen?" the judge said.
"Prosecutor Ekstrom got a copy of these classified records from Teleborian at a meeting which took place in his office at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 4, this year."
"Is that correct?" Judge Iversen said.
Ekstrom's first impulse was to deny it. Then he realized that Giannini might somehow have evidence.
"I requested permission to read parts of the records if I signed a confidentiality agreement," Ekstrom said. "I had to make sure that Salander had the history she was alleged to have."
"Thank you," Giannini said. "This means that we now have confirmation that Dr. Teleborian not only tells lies but also broke the law by disseminating records that he himself claims are classified."
"Duly noted," said the judge.
*
Judge Iversen was suddenly very alert. In a most unorthodox way, Giannini had launched a serious attack on a witness, and she had already made mincemeat of an important part of his testimony. And she claims that she can document everything she says. Judge Iversen adjusted his glasses.
"Dr. Teleborian, based on these records which you yourself wrote, could you now tell me how many days Lisbeth Salander was kept in restraints?"
"I have no recollection that it could have been so extensive, but if that's what the records say, then I have to believe it."
"A total of 381 days and nights. Does that not strike you as excessive?"
"It is unusual, yes."
"How would you perceive it if you were thirteen years old and someone strapped you to a steel-framed bed for more than a year? Would it feel like torture?"
"You have to understand that the patient was dangerous to herself as well as to others--"
"OK. Let's look at whether she was dangerous to herself. Has Lisbeth Salander ever injured herself?"
"There were such misgivings--"
"I'll repeat the question: has Lisbeth Salander ever injured herself? Yes or no?"
"As psychiatrists we must teach ourselves to interpret the overall picture. With regard to Lisbeth Salander, you can see on her body, for example, a multitude of tattoos and piercings, which are a form of self-destructive behaviour and a way of damaging one's own body. We can interpret that as a manifestation of self-hate."
Giannini turned to Salander.
"Are your tattoos a manifestation of self-hate?" she said.
"No," Salander said.
Giannini turned back to Teleborian. "So you believe that I am also dangerous to myself because I wear earrings and actually have a tattoo in a private place?"
Palmgren snickered, but he managed to transform the snicker into a clearing of his throat.
"No, not at all . . . tattoos can also be part of a social ritual."
"Are you saying that Lisbeth Salander is not part of this social ritual?"
"You can see for yourself that her tattoos are grotesque and extend over large parts of her body. That is no normal measure of fetishism or body decoration."
"What percentage?"
"Excuse me?"
"At what percentage of tattooed body surface does it stop being fetishism and become a mental illness?"
"You're distorting my words."
"Am I? How is it that, in your opinion, it is part of a wholly acceptable social ritual when it applies to me or to other young people, but it becomes dangerous when it's a matter of evaluating my client's mental state?"
"As a psychiatrist I have to look at the whole picture. The tattoos are merely an indicator. As I have already said, it is one of many indicators which need to be taken into account when I evaluate her condition."
Giannini was silent for a few seconds as she fixed Teleborian with her gaze. She now spoke very slowly.
"But Dr. Teleborian, you began strapping down my client when she was twelve years old, going on thirteen. At that time she did not have a single tattoo, did she?"
Teleborian hesitated, and Giannini went on.
"I presume that you did not strap her down because you predicted that she would begin tattooing herself sometime in the future."
"Of course not. Her tattoos had nothing to do with her condition in 1991."
"With that we are back to my original question. Did Lisbeth Salander ever injure herself in a way that would justify keeping her bound to a bed for a whole year? For example, did she cut herself with a knife or a razor blade or anything like that?"
Teleborian looked unsure for a second.
"No . . . I used the tattoos as an example of self-destructive behaviour."
"And we have just agreed that tattoos are a legitimate part of a social ritual. I asked why you restrained her for a year, and you replied that it was because she was a danger to herself."
"We had reason to believe that she was a danger to herself."
"'Reason to believe.' So you're saying that you restrained her because you guessed something?"
"We carried out assessments."
"I have now been asking the same question for about five minutes. You claim that my client's self-destructive behaviour was one reason why she was strapped down for a total of more than a year out of the two years she was in your care. Can you please finally give me some examples of the self-destructive behaviour she evidenced at the age of twelve?"
"The girl was extremely undernourished, for example. This was partially due to the fact that she refused food. We suspected anorexia."
"I see. Was she anorexic? As you can see, my client is even today uncommonly thin and fine-boned."
"Well, it's difficult to answer that question. I would have to observe her eating habits for quite a long time."
"You did observe her eating habits--for two years. And now you're suggesting that you confused anorexia with the fact that my client is small and thin. You say that she refused food."
"We were compelled to force-feed her on several occasions."
"And why was that?"
"Because she refused to eat, of course."
Giannini turned to her client.
"Lisbeth, is it true that you refused to eat at St. Stefan's?"
"Yes."
"And why was that?"
"Because that bastard was mixing psychotropic drugs into my food."
"I see. So Dr. Teleborian wanted to give you medicine. Why didn't you want to take it?"
"I didn't like the medicine I was being given. It made me sluggish. I couldn't think, and I was sedated for most of the time I was awake. And the bastard refused to tell me what the drugs contained.
"
"So you refused to take the medicine?"
"Yes. Then he began putting the crap in my food instead. So I stopped eating. Every time something had been put in my food, I stopped eating for five days."
"So you had to go hungry."
"Not always. Several of the attendants smuggled sandwiches in to me on various occasions. One in particular gave me food late at night. That happened quite often."
"So you think that the nursing staff at St. Stefan's saw that you were hungry and gave you food so that you would not have to starve?"
"That was during the period when I was battling with this bastard over psychotropic drugs."
"Tell us what happened."
"He tried to drug me. I refused to take his medicine. He started putting it in my food. I refused to eat. He started force-feeding me. I began vomiting up the food."
"So there was a completely rational reason why you refused the food."
"Yes."
"It was not because you didn't want food?"
"No. I was often hungry."
"And since you left St. Stefan's, do you eat regularly?"
"I eat when I'm hungry."
"Would it be correct to say that a conflict arose between you and Dr. Teleborian?"
"You could say that."
"You were sent to St. Stefan's because you had thrown gasoline at your father and set him on fire."
"Yes."
"Why did you do that?"
"Because he abused my mother."
"Did you ever explain that to anyone?"
"Yes."
"And who was that?"
"I told the police who interviewed me, the social workers, the doctors, a pastor, and that bastard."
"By 'that bastard' you are referring to . . . ?"
"That man." She pointed at Dr. Teleborian.
"Why do you call him a bastard?"
"When I first arrived at St. Stefan's I tried to explain to him what had happened."
"And what did Dr. Teleborian say?"
"He didn't want to listen to me. He claimed that I was fantasizing. And as punishment I was to be strapped down until I stopped fantasizing. And then he tried to force-feed me psychotropic drugs."
"This is nonsense," Teleborian said.
"Is that why you won't speak to him?"
"I haven't said a word to the bastard since the night I turned thirteen. I was strapped to the bed. It was my birthday present to myself."
Giannini turned to Teleborian. "This sounds as if the reason my client refused to eat was that she did not want the psychotropic drugs you were forcing upon her."
"It's possible that she views it that way."
"And how do you view it?"
"I had a patient who was abnormally difficult. I maintain that her behaviour showed that she was a danger to herself, but this might be a question of interpretation. However, she was violent and exhibited psychotic behaviour. There is no doubt that she was dangerous to others. She came to St. Stefan's after she tried to murder her father."
"We'll get to that later. For 381 of those days you kept her in restraints. Could it have been that you used strapping as a way to punish my client when she didn't do as you said?"
"That is utter nonsense."
"Is it? I notice that according to the records the majority of the strapping occurred during the first year . . . 320 of 381 instances. Why was the strapping discontinued?"
"I suppose the patient changed her behaviour and became less agitated."
"Is it not true that your measures were considered unnecessarily brutal by other members of the staff?"
"How do you mean?"
"Is it not true that the staff lodged complaints against the force-feeding of Lisbeth Salander, among other things?"
"Inevitably people will arrive at differing evaluations. This is nothing unusual. But it became a burden to force-feed her because she resisted so violently--"
"Because she refused to take psychotropic drugs which made her listless and passive. She had no problem eating when she was not being drugged. Wouldn't that have been a more reasonable method of treatment than resorting to forcible measures?"
"If you don't mind my saying so, Fru Giannini, I am actually a physician. I suspect that my medical expertise is rather more extensive than yours. It is my job to determine what medical treatments should be employed."
"It's true, I'm not a physician, Doctor Teleborian. However, I am not entirely lacking in expertise. Besides my qualifications as a lawyer I was also trained as a psychologist at Stockholm University. This is necessary background training in my profession."
You could have heard a pin drop in the courtroom. Both Ekstrom and Teleborian stared in astonishment at Giannini. She continued inexorably.
"Is it not correct that your methods of treating my client eventually resulted in serious disagreements between you and your superior, Dr. Johannes Caldin, head physician at the time?"
"No, that is not correct."
"Dr. Caldin passed away several years ago and cannot give testimony. But here in court we have someone who met Dr. Caldin on several occasions. Namely, my assistant counsel, Holger Palmgren."
She turned to him.
"Can you tell us how that came about?"
Palmgren cleared his 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 daughters. 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 on 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 his eyes change when he realized he had made a mistake. He could anticipate what it w
as 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 aggravated assault on a woman and decided to make the report classified."
"It was 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 SIS."
"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--"
"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 gasoline 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.