Updated April 11, 2017 23:49:45

Photo: The main suspect, Rakhmat Akilov, was arrested just hours after the attack. (Reuters)

Rakhmat Akilov, the main suspect in the truck attack in Stockholm that killed four people and injured 15, has confessed to committing a terrorist crime, his lawyer has told a court.

Police believe Akilov, a 39-year-old from the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan, was the driver of the hijacked beer truck that mowed down pedestrians on a busy street in the Swedish capital last week before crashing into a department store.

"His position is that he admits to a terrorist crime and accepts therefore that he will be detained," Johan Eriksson, the lawyer representing him said in a court hearing to decide whether he should be kept in custody.

Akilov, who entered the courtroom with a sweater over his head before being seated between his lawyer and translator, was arrested just hours after the attack.

The tragedy will now trigger a grim, all too well-rehearsed routine, writes Europe correspondent James Glenday.

He was arrested on the highest level of suspicion in the Swedish legal system.

Akilov was already wanted by police for failing to comply with a deportation order.

Security services said he had expressed sympathies with extremist organisations, among them the Islamic State (IS) group, but had not viewed him as a militant threat.

Akilov had asked for his defence lawyer to be replaced by a Sunni Muslim, but a court denied his request, documents showed.

Second suspect will have arrest revoked

Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office has said it will revoke the arrest of a second man police had detained because they suspected he was involved in the case.

According to Sweden's prosecution authority, "the suspicions have weakened" against him, and there were no grounds to apply for a detention order.

The statement said he would not be set free, but instead "be taken into custody due to a previous decision that he shall be expelled from Sweden".

Last week's attack shocked Swedes, who pride themselves on their open-door policies toward migrants and refugees, and many expressed fears that something had gone badly wrong.

It shattered any sense the country had of being insulated from the militant violence that has hit other parts of Europe, but politicians have taken a defiant stance, saying Sweden will remain an open, tolerant society.

Reuters/AP

Topics: terrorism, unrest-conflict-and-war, law-crime-and-justice, sweden

First posted April 11, 2017 19:44:16