A psychiatric evaluation categorized Breivik as a paranoid schizophrenic, a diagnosis he dismissed in court as “ill-willed fabrications” meant to portray him as irrational and unintelligent. However, a second psychiatric examination has found him to be sane.
Breivik, who faces charges of terrorism and premeditated murder, wants to be found sane and accountable for his actions so that his anti-Islam ideology will be taken seriously.
Breivik says he is trying to spread awareness among Norwegian intellectuals and elites about what he calls a “Muslim invasion” of Europe.
Breivik said he considered targeting Muslims in his attacks but concluded that previous cases of racially-motivated murders elsewhere in Europe had proven “inefficient” at raising awareness.
Breivik also revealed his efforts to procure biological weapons, claiming he hoped to build three bombs weighing 500 to 1500 tons.
“The aim of the attack on the government buildings… was to kill the entire Norwegian government, including the PM… and everyone in the building,” Breivik told the central court in Oslo.
He said he had planned to behead former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and film the decapitation. “It was meant to be used as a very powerful psychological weapon,” he stated.
On April 20, Breivik entered the courtroom giving a clenched-fist salute and smiled as he proudly claimed responsibility for both the detonation of a bomb near the prime minister’s residence in Oslo and the shooting spree at the governing Labor Party’s annual youth camp on Utoya Island.
The 33-year-old man, who committed Norway’s worst peacetime massacre since World War II, received only minimal education, dropping out of high school before graduation.
At 17, Breivik joined the right-wing Progress Party (FrP), which has a tough stance on immigration.
Police investigations into his business dealings revealed how he made millions of kroners by forging educational documents and qualifications to establish private businesses.
Breivik also carefully procured deadly weapons from multiple sources in several countries and dedicated himself to military training.
The confessions of the murderer, who has not displayed the slightest indication of regret or shame, have shocked Norwegian society.
If found sane, Breivik faces a maximum 21-year sentence, but sentences can be prolonged indefinitely for inmates deemed to pose a danger to Norwegian society. Similar rules apply in psychiatric care.
He has said that being sentenced to closed psychiatric care would be “worse than death.”
MRS/MF/HGL
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