Anders Behring Breivik goes on trial over Norway massacres

On July 22, Breivik killed eight people when he set off a bomb in a van parked
at the foot of government buildings in Oslo housing the offices of Labour
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who was not present at the time.

He then travelled to Utoya island outside Oslo where, dressed as a police
officer, he spent more than an hour methodically shooting at hundreds of
people attending a Labour Party youth summer camp.

The shooting spree left 69 people dead, most of them teenagers trapped on the
small heart-shaped island surrounded by icy waters, and is the deadliest
massacre ever committed by a sole gunman.

Breivik, 33, has been charged with “acts of terror” and faces either
21 years in prison – a sentence that could thereafter be extended
indefinitely if he is still considered a threat to society – or closed
psychiatric care, possibly for life.

The confessed killer wants to be found sane and accountable for his actions,
so that his anti-Islam ideology, as presented in the 1,500-page manifesto he
published online just before the attacks, will be taken seriously and not
considered the ravings of a lunatic.

He has said that court-ordered psychiatric care would be “worse than death”.

During the trial, “he will not only defend (his actions) but will also
lament, I think, not going further,” Breivik’s main defence lawyer Geir
Lippestad said last week.

Vibeke Hein Baere, another defence lawyer, told TV2 Nyhetskanalen Sunday her
client was preparing for his testimony, which is set to begin Tuesday, and
was jotting down notes, but insisted he would not be allowed to make an
ideological speech to the court.

The court has nonetheless banned television broadcasts of his testimony.

The five judges will have to consider the two contradictory psychiatric
evaluations presented to the court, and determine whether he is sane and
accountable when they hand down their verdict sometime in July.

The massacre shocked normally tranquil Norway, home of the Nobel Peace Prize,
sparking emotional displays of national unity and a deep reflection on the
delicate balance between openness and security.

“On July 22, it was our democracy that was attacked,” Prime
Minister Jens Stoltenberg told news agency NTB recently, stressing: “It
is therefore more important than ever to show that our democracy and rule of
law work.”

The size of the trial is unprecedented in the Scandinavian country.

The proceedings in the specially-adapted Oslo District Court will be broadcast
live to 17 local courthouses around the country to accommodate more than 770
survivors and families of victims figuring as plaintiffs.

Police have cordoned off numerous streets around the courthouse, which has
been beset by media organisations from around the world, with some 800
reporters from around 210 media organisations set to follow the case.

Source: agencies

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