View Photo Gallery — Attacks in Norway: Court-appointed psychiatrists say a right-wing anti-Muslim extremist who killed 77 people in July 2011 was insane during his deadly rampage. Anders Behring Breivik confessed to the attacks that included a government-building bombing and youth camp massacre. Results of the court-ordered assessment would make him mentally unfit to be convicted and imprisoned for the country’s worst peacetime massacre.
By Associated Press,
Wednesday, April 18, 6:50 AM
The Washington Post OSLO, Norway — In a scene unimaginable in many countries, Norway’s worst mass killer since World War II gets to explain his fanatical views to the court and the world for days dressed up in a business suit.
Two days into Anders Behring Breivik’s terror trial, the studied formality with which Norway’s legal system deals with a confessed killer who rejects its authority is baffling to outsiders, even to some Norwegians.
The mass killer on trial in Norway defended his massacre in a statement he read at his trial Tuesday, declaring he'd do it again. A lay judge who'd suggested the death penalty for Anders Breivik was removed from the court panel.
On Monday, the day the trial started, Norwegian prosecutors and even lawyers representing the families of his 77 victims shook Breivik’s hand as proceedings began.
On Tuesday, the 33-year-old far-right militant was allowed to give an hour-long address to the court, reading from a statement that summarized the 1,500-page anti-Islamic manifesto that he posted online before his bomb-and-shooting rampage nine months ago.
“The attacks on July 22 were a preventive strike. I acted in self-defense on behalf of my people, my city, my country,” Breivik declared, demanding to be found innocent of terror and murder charges.
He set off a bomb outside the government headquarters in Oslo, killing eight, then drove to Utoya island outside the capital and massacred 69 people in a shooting spree at the governing Labor Party’s youth summer camp on Utoya island. It was the most “spectacular” attack by a nationalist militant since World War II, he boasted.
The court’s main judge interrupted Breivik several times Tuesday, asking him to get to the point, but let him continue after he threatened that he would either finish his speech or not speak at all.
“It is critically important that I can explain the reason and the motive” for the massacre, said Breivik.
Breivik, who has admitted the attacks, said it doesn’t matter if he’s sent to prison, because living in a country ruled by “multiculturalists” was a prison in itself. The main point of his defense is to avoid an insanity ruling, which would deflate his political arguments.
Mette Yvonne Larsen, a lawyer representing victim’s families, also interrupted Breivik, saying she was getting email and text message complaints from victims who felt the defendant was turning the trial into a platform to profess his extremist views. But even she showed some sympathy for Breivik’s right to explain his actions.
“We understand that the court allows it, but we felt it was our duty as lawyers for the bereaved to intervene,” Larsen told reporters.
Norwegian legal experts said it’s important that the country’s legal traditions apply to everyone, even Breivik, whose massacre shocked the wealthy, peaceful nation. The justice system here isn’t about “revenge, but sober, dignified treatment” for everyone accused of a crime, said Thomas Mathiesen, a professor of sociology of law at the University of Oslo.
“It is deeply ingrained in Norwegian tradition and fundamental values. If it lasts all the way through the 10 weeks of this trial, and I think it will, we have an important message to the world,” he said.
But even in Norway, dignity has its limits. Five judges are hearing the case — three of them citizen judges, ordinary people who serve four-year terms. One of the citizen judges was removed Tuesday after media reports said he had posted comments in an online forum saying that Breivik deserved the death penalty, which doesn’t exist in Norway. He was replaced by another citizen judge.
If found mentally sane — the key issue to be decided in the trial — Breivik could face a maximum 21-year prison sentence or an alternate custody arrangement that would keep him locked up as long as he is considered a menace to society.
If declared insane he would be committed to psychiatric care for as long as he’s considered ill.
“What I see happening in Norway with Breivik’s statement is a trial about politics, not legal evidence,” said Jeff Kass, a reporter who wrote a book about the 1999 U.S. Columbine school shooting.
He noted that in the United States, it’s the defense attorney — not the defendant — who does the talking.”It is almost always considered a bad idea to have the defendant himself or herself testify. For one, it opens them up to too much questioning — as the prosecutor is now doing with Breivik,” Kass said.
Prosecutors shaking hands with defendants would be a rare sight in the U.S. but also in neighboring Nordic countries, which share Norway’s humane view on criminal justice.
The right-wing fanatic who confessed to killing 77 people in a bomb-and-shooting massacre went on trial in Oslo on Monday, defiantly rejecting the authority of the Norwegian court.
Some thought things went too far when even the three lawyers representing victims shook hands with Breivik.
“That was a bit strange,” said John Christian Elden, who represents some survivors but is not participating in the trial.
Breivik’s request to wear a uniform was rejected by the court and police instead fetched at suit from his home.
“This is a completely normal way to dress in a Norwegian court, even in a serious criminal matter,” his lawyer Geir Lippestad said. “We don’t have orange jumpsuits and that kind of thing in Norway.”
In his address, Breivik lashed out at Norwegian and European governments for embracing immigration and multiculturalism. He claimed to be speaking as a commander of an anti-Islam militant group he called the Knights Templar — a group that prosecutors say does not exist.
Maintaining he acted out of “goodness, not evil” to prevent a wider civil war, Breivik vowed, “I would have done it again.”
He compared Norway’s Labor Party youth wing to the Hitler Youth and called their annual summer gathering an “indoctrination” camp. But he later told prosecutors he would have preferred to attack a conference of Norwegian journalists instead, but wasn’t able to carry that out.
Asked why he started crying in court on Monday, when prosecutors showed an anti-Muslim film that Breivik posted on YouTube before the attacks, he said: “I was thinking about Norway and Europe, which are ruled by politicians and journalists killing our country. I was thinking that my country is dying.”
Families of the victims were upset at his testimony.
“I think it’s important to underline that we don’t view Breivik as a politician in this matter. He is a mass murderer,” Trond Henry Blattmann, whose 17-year-old son was killed on Utoya, told The Associated Press outside the court.
Even his lawyers conceded that Breivik’s self-defense defense is unlikely to succeed and said the main thing was to convince the court that Breivik is not insane.
In his testimony Tuesday, Breivik rejected suggestions that he has a narcissistic personality disorder.
“July 22, wasn’t about me. July 22 was a suicide attack. I wasn’t expecting to survive that day,” he said. “A narcissist would never have given his life for anyone or anything.”
Nils Christie, a Norwegian criminology professor, published an op-ed after the attacks saying Breivik should be reintroduced to Norwegian society eventually. The way Norway had responded to the attacks — showing love for one another rather than hatred for Breivik — made him proud of his country, Christie said Tuesday.
“Breivik is one of us,” Christie told AP. “Norway is a society with relatively small divisions between people. We see each other as fellow humans even when we disagree. The horrible thing he did, he is nevertheless one of us.”
___
Associated Press writers Bjoern H. Amland and Julia Gronnevet in Oslo and Malin Rising and Louise Nordstorm in Stockholm contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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- Read more headlines from around the world
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61 COMMENTS
cmckeonjr wrote:
1:09 PM UTC+1000
Norway's Timothy McVieigh, right-wing nut spreading misery and death to satisfy his own little discontent with the way things are. Unlike America, they will treat him civilly, and put him away where he can no longer go off on selfish little political temper tantrums costing other people their lives.
GeneralSherman1 wrote:
1:03 PM UTC+1000
Breivik's not insane. He's just acting like a typical christian. I love how all the right-wingers here are in denial and crying about it. All the worst genocides were committed by christian imperialists including the French genocide in Algeria, the US, British, French, Spanish, etc. genocide of the Native Ameicans, the British, French, Spanish, etc. genocide of the Americas as a whole including Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, the British/Dutch genocide of South Africa, the British genocide of Australia, the Dutch/Spanish/American genocide of Southeast Asia, the US genocide of Vietnam, the Circassian genocide and other genocides against Caucasian Muslim peoples, the genocide of the Crimean Tatars, the genocide of Bosniaks at Srebenica, the white christian german genocide of the Holocaust. Breivik was just following them.
GeneralSherman1 wrote:
1:02 PM UTC+1000
He was just acting like a typical christian like those christian imperialists who carried out such genocides as the French genocide in Algeria, the US, British, French, Spanish, etc. genocide of the Native Ameicans, the British, French, Spanish, etc. genocide of the Americas as a whole including Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, the British/Dutch genocide of South Africa, the British genocide of Australia, the Dutch/Spanish/American genocide of Southeast Asia, the US genocide of Vietnam, the Circassian genocide and other genocides against Caucasian Muslim peoples, the genocide of the Crimean Tatars, the genocide of Bosniaks at Srebenica, the white christian german genocide of the Holocaust.
1123581321 wrote:
12:40 PM UTC+1000
Norway is a civilized country. So, when a creature like AB stands trial in a famous case, it strains that civility and leaves Americans wondering why it's taking so long
gb_5 wrote:
12:36 PM UTC+1000
Norway should be having a closer look at how it encouraged this person. About a a quarter of voters voted for the Progress Party in 2009 after it took a strong anti-immigration position with its leader warning of the "islamization of Norwegian society". Breivilk was once a member of this party but left because it was not radical enough. Less than 10% of the population are migrants, almost the lowest in OECD and most of these come from elsewhere in Scandinavia. A major reason Norwegians give for not being in the EU is to "protect their culture." Well, look at what they are "protecting."
______ 1123581321 responds:
12:42 PM UTC+1000
Your evidence does not speak to your charge of encouragement.
MoonBrat wrote:
12:31 PM UTC+1000
He is Norwegian. Right. He should definitely be put to death. Rick Perry would do it in a heartbeat.
DLB9 wrote:
12:11 PM UTC+1000
"Mr. Breivik . . .rejected an assessment by one psychiatrist that he suffered from a narcissistic personality disorder. “July 22 wasn’t about me. July 22 was a suicide attack. I wasn’t expecting to survive that day,” he said. “A narcissist would never have given his life for anyone or anything.” Oh yea?
1. Grandiose sense of self importance. 2. Preoccupied with fantasies of of power, 3. believes he is "special" and can be understood only by other special people, 4. requires excessive admiration, 5. has a sense of entitlement, 6. is interpersonally exploitative, 7. lacks empathy and unwilling to recognize feelings/needs of others, 8. envious of others, 9. arrogant and haughty. This guy is a WORLD CLASS NARCISSIST. He was hoping for a cowardly "suicide by cop. Even in his (intended) death he was manipulating. Oh, and also add ANTISOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER. For Mr. Breivik - "there ain't no cure for this level of crazy."
When you listen to someone spew their Narcissistic Personality Disordered thinking, you just want to remove your own brain and run it through the washing machine a few times. Very disturbing.
Uoughtano wrote:
11:45 AM UTC+1000
ed Nugent says he's like Braveheart he means Breivart the Norway killer. Call Ted Nugent psycho grab his guns and force him on medication. That'll give him something to chew over and a position to defend. It's done to lefties cf. The Protest Psychosis by Metzl.
kevrobb wrote:
11:10 AM UTC+1000
Breivik seems rather taken with the US Republican party, to judge from his comments today. He even trotted out one of the American conservatives' favourite hobbyhorses, the attempted rehabilitation of old Joe McCarthy. If they'd let him go on any longer, he might have endorsed Mitt Romney.
No sirprise, since the whole introductory chapter of his notorious internet manifesto was copied verbatim from the US conservative thinktank the Free Congress Foundation. He paid homage to various American conservative luminaries, like Pat Buchanan and Daniel Pipes, and the leaders of the "Ground Zero Mosque" protests, Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller.
Breivik's themes are the same as the ones sounded on this website by US conservatives daily. The giant Muslim-communist-liberal conspiracy, the pending enforcement of global Sharia law by barely-armed terrorists, the supposed swamping of white anglo culture by immigration, the exaggerated worship of Israel. It's all there. I wish I had a dollar (or Euro) for every time I've seen one call for Muslim "subhumans" to be "exterminated." Or even just a nickel for every time I've heard an American conservative claim that Europe is getting swamped by its 3.2% Muslim population.
The main difference between Breivik and American conservatives is that they expect their military to do the killing for them.
______ kevrobb responds:
11:13 AM UTC+1000
"Europe ... Europe is facing a demographic disaster. That’s the inevitable product of weakened faith in the Creator, failed families, disrespect for the sanctity of human life, and eroded morality."
Anders Breivik, April 17, 2012
Oh sorry, wrong attribution. Actually that was said by:
Mitt Romney, Feb 6, 2008, at CPAC....See More
User ID:http://washingtonpost.com/omk/n6grf06ehVKIKsBwKcgoWI6YUHMFVlNQOUtKBgd/tT03sC7QkQ%3D%3D/
______ spectator1 responds:
11:26 AM UTC+1000
Obviously his extreme views and attitudes have been fed by extreme views and attitudes in the U.S. But none of those extremists in the U.S. ever proposed murdering all those people because of what concerned them. I think that Breivik is a psychopath who simply wanted to kill a lot people
spectator1 wrote:
10:48 AM UTC+1000
No defense attorney would let a defendant talk like this in the U.S. Not only is he giving the prosecutor plenty of evidence, he's telling the court that he's so dangerous that they had better find a way to keep him locked up until the end of his life--because he wants to do it again.
This man suffers from some kind of mental disorder that turned his racism into an excuse for murdering a huge number of strangers. But it's likely that his motivation for killing was the desire to kill a lot of people, his concerns about racial and cultural matters only served to focus his attention upon a target. He's telling everyone that if he's set free he'll do it again.
MNUSA wrote:
10:11 AM UTC+1000
He is one hateful, sick son-of-a-gun. Hopefully they'll lock him up and throw away the key.
bugbuster1 wrote:
9:50 AM UTC+1000
As the day wears on, and these little bits and pieces come out about this guy, he comes across to me as a narcissist wack job. I'm not sure they are giving him "respect" so much as plenty of rope to hang himself with. Every time he opens his mouth he digs his hole a little deeper. I think he will end up in the Funny Farm. He reminds me of Ted Kaczinski, who wanted nothing more than to be considered sane, which of course he is nothing of the sort.
jimeglrd8 wrote:
9:42 AM UTC+1000
Like many people I don't understand the respect Breivik is receiving in Norway.If I were the parent of one of the victims I would be doing what I could to see that Breivik is punished as harshly as possible. If I were rich I would let it be known that I would reward anyone able to slit Brievik's throat. I certainly would not sit silently by while this killer is treated like a decent human being. The Norweigians should be making Breivik's life miserable. He should be kept in a bare cell, naked, with a bright light on 24 hours a day. His meals should be served on a tray slid into his cell through a small hole and they should be liberally sprinkled with dry feces. He should be given the means to commit suicide and if he needed help doing so, that help should be provided. However, it appears that many Norwegians support what Breivik did. Why else would he receive so much respect.
______ gandalong3 responds:
9:45 AM UTC+1000
Respecting their legal system is not the same as supporting the murderer, in a decent society you don't get to pick when to apply the law and when not to. Did you even bother reading the article?
______ larryclyons responds:
12:26 PM UTC+1000
Norway is a very civilized country. Except for this incident they have very few homicides proportionately:
2010 rate for Norway 0.72/100,000
2010 rate US: 4.8/100,000
LeighOats wrote:
9:39 AM UTC+1000
Oops again. Washington Post, my apologies.
LeighOats wrote:
9:37 AM UTC+1000
Oops. I wish the NYT's website had a self-editing facility. In my post of a few minutes ago I meant "Freemasons". Ah, why did the "r" key evade my fingers when I needed it?
lbjack wrote:
9:36 AM UTC+1000
Well, if 21 years for a mass murderer doesn't reflect the moral depravity of Norwegians -- who gave a Peace Prize to Arafat -- then Nils Christie should. After all, he believes Breivik should one day be released because, "He's one of us." Ladies and gentleman, I give you one of the most vile, contemptible, warped, stupid human beings you will ever encounter.
______ gandalong3 responds:
9:48 AM UTC+1000
A society's laws being different from yours does not make them morally depraved.. Thinking the way you do borders on bigotry but definitely based on intolerance and ignorance. If you knew their laws well you would know they have the option to keep him in indefinitely after the sentence is complete if he is still considered a risk to society.
Morally depraved is torturing prisoners
______ lbjack responds:
10:36 AM UTC+1000
You really shouldn't try this. You only embarrass yourself.
If you weren't a pinhead, then you'd realize that the main point was this Nils Christi creature babbling about how Breivik should re-enter Norwegian society because "He's one of us".
You're right, I am intolerant of Breivik. Since you're obviously not, and proud of it, then who's depraved?
By the way, I know far more about Scandinavian law than you, having lived there for years. So get off your high horse before you make a further pompous äss of yourself.
______ CharasmaticMegafauna responds:
12:00 PM UTC+1000
There are legal mechanisms to extend his sentence.
LeighOats wrote:
9:27 AM UTC+1000
Diamond104, you say: "The contrast between Norwegians and Americans is truly striking. Norwegians seek to understand, Americans seek to judge."
And the world supposes that you understand Adolf Hitler. You imply that neither that world-famous philosopher nor Anders Breivik (who at the time of his glorious acts of self-expression on 22 July 2011 was a member of a Feemasons lodge in Oslo) has been actually evil. Poor darlings both.
Let's not begin to understand the truncated dreams of, for instance, the 14-year-old "beautiful, caring and vibrant girl" Sharidyn Svebakk-Boehn of Drammen, or the 14-year-old "independent boy with a good sense of humour" Johannes Buoe of Mandal.
Breivik seems to think Norway should go back to the Middle Ages. Well, then, if an appropriate verdict comes his way (which doesn't seem likely) then let the misunderstood boy enjoy Medieval justice in a public pillory for the rest of his life being bombarded with rotten fruit, vegetables, eggs, fish, offal or mud, or—um—with soft missiles even more enjoyable than any of those.
The only trouble with that regimen is that is would corrupt the minds of the bombardiers.
DRJJJ wrote:
8:58 AM UTC+1000
We're all sick and tired of the endless muslim killing of innocent women and children, etc, but murdering folks before they act is getting down in the mud with them! Essential Christian doctrine states love God and love others-the first 2 commandments and all other commandments are based on these! Yes, I know Christians have fallen short of the glory of God (sinned)-there's room for one more! ...See More
User ID:http://washingtonpost.com/%2BgE/u7MQL8SH5KdOcV40rridoaFyAQkMe2qIGpRSUmUC1YGyXPVjbA%3D%3D/
______ samscram responds:
10:41 AM UTC+1000
"When I reflect upon the number of disagreeable people who I know have gone to better world, I am moved to lead a different life." Mark Twain
______ CharasmaticMegafauna responds:
12:01 PM UTC+1000
Breivek murdered christian children of the Social Democrat party.
_________________
What do you think ?
Các anh chị nghĩ thế nào, có ý kiến- phê bình gì qua bài viết "Anders Breivik trial displays Norway’s formal legal system" By Associated Press và những ý kiến- phê bình từ "61 Comment" của đọc giả ?
Thiển nghĩ, một kẻ đã làm nên TỘI ÁC quá rõ ràng, đã GIẾT NGƯỜI hàng loạt, đã NHÚNG TAY vào MÁU đồng loại, cả thế giới đều đã thấy, thử hỏi còn ai có thể vin vào bất cứ lý do gì, bất cứ cương vị nào, "biện minh" hay "bao che", hay "bào chữa"... cho TỘI ÁC khủng khiếp đáng kinh tởm vô cùng này của tên sát nhân Anders Breivik ?
Con người không thể sống như ÁC THÚ .
Đã làm TỘI ÁC tất phải ĐỀN TỘI, đó chính là Chân Lý và Đạo Đức căn bản, chính đáng của "Nhân Loại" đúng nghĩa.
Dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC vậy.
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog"
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
18042012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
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