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Subscribe to RSSAnders Breivik gave a defiant, closed-fist salute as he walked into the court room on the first day of his trial for 77 murders. ITN's Damon Green reports.
Updated at 12:25 p.m. ET: Militant Anders Behring Breivik admitted he killed 77 people in a massacre last July, but said he was pleading not guilty on the first day of a trial that threatens to turn into a "circus" showcasing his anti-Islamic views.
As he arrived in court - the early part of the session was broadcast on television - Breivik gave a salute, raising his arm with his fist clenched.
The 33-year-old said: "I do not recognize the Norwegian courts. You have received your mandate from political parties which support multiculturalism. I do not acknowledge the authority of the court."
The trial will turn on whether Breivik is found guilty or insane. If sane, he faces up to 21 years in prison; if deemed criminally insane, he would be committed to psychiatric care.
Shed tears
Listening impassively for hours as prosecutors read out an indictment detailing how he massacred teenagers trapped on a island resort outside Oslo, he only shed tears when the court later showed one of his propaganda videos.
Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
Anders Behring Breivik raises his fist as he arrives to courtroom for the first day of his trial in Oslo, Monday.
"I acknowledge the acts but not criminal guilt as I claim self defence," he added, seated in front of a bullet-proof glass wall.
Occasionally suppressing a yawn, cracking his knuckles and sipping water, he stared down at the indictment papers, following without visible emotion the list of his killings as the prosecutor read out each one. Some details were so graphic that Norwegian television bleeped out descriptions of the massacres.
Breivik shot most of his victims several times, often using the first shot to take down his target then following up with a shot to the head. His youngest victim was 14. He later surrendered as "commander of the Norwegian resistance movement".
Prosecutors played a recording of an emergency call made by one of the summer campers hiding in the bathroom of a cafe.
"There's shooting all the time, I've seen many injured. He's inside!" Renate Taarnes screamed, as 13 people in the cafe were shot dead. "He's coming ... he's coming," she said as shots could be heard in the background.
But Breivik only became tearful while watching a movie of still pictures accompanied by text of his vision of evils of "multiculturalism" and "Islamic demographic warfare".
"I think he feels sorry for himself," said Mette Yvonne Larsen, one of the lawyers representing victims. "His project didn't work out, that's why he's crying. He's not crying for the victims ... he's crying over his extremely childish film."
Heiko Junge / Pool via AFP - Getty Images
Rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik sheds a tear during his trial in Oslo courthouse as the court views a propaganda film he made.
The trial is scheduled to last 10 weeks and has raised fears that it could reopen wounds in Norway, a country that sees itself as a tolerant and peaceful society.
PhotoBlog: Anders Breivik in court
The "lone wolf" killer intends to say he was defending Norway against multiculturalism and Islam. He says his attacks were intended to punish "traitors" whose pro-immigration policies were adulterating Norwegian blood.
More than 200 people sat in the specially built courtroom while about 700 attack survivors and family members of victims watched on closed-circuit video around the country.
"It will be a tough time for many," survivor Vegard Groeslie Wennesland, 28, said outside the courtroom. "Last time I saw him in person he was shooting my friends."
Report: Threat from anti-jihadist extremists grows
Last July 22, Breivek set off a bomb in the centre of Oslo before heading to the youth camp on Utoeya, an island in a lake 25 miles outside the capital, gunning down his victims while police took more than an hour to get to the massacre site in the chaos that followed the bomb blast.
Disguised as a police officer, Breivik managed to lure some of his victims out of hiding, saying help had arrived. Other victims jumped into the lake, where he shot them in the water.
New details have emerged about the arrest of self-confessed Norwegian killer Anders Breivik, as well as the terror rampage left 76 people dead in the normally peaceful Scandinavian country. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports.
Prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh spoke of the "panic and mortal fear in children, youths and adults" trapped on the island.
While video footage of the Oslo bomb blast was played to the court, victims and their families cried as but Breivik smiled on several occasions.
Prosecutors painted an image of a Breivik obsessed with the "World of Warcraft" computer game, prompting the judge to ask whether the game was violent. Breivik broke into a smile when the image of his online character was displayed.
An initial psychiatric evaluation concluded that Breivik was criminally insane while a second, completed in the past week, found no evidence of psychosis. Resolving this conflict could be the five-judge panel's major decision.
If found guilty and sane, Breivik faces a maximum 21-year sentence but could be held indefinitely if he is considered a continuing danger. If declared insane, he would be held in a psychiatric institution indefinitely with periodic reviews.
Meanwhile he has made clear he intends to make use of the trial to air his views when he testifies next week.
"Your arrest will mark the initiation of the propaganda phase," he wrote in a manual for future attackers, part of a 1,500-page manifesto he posted online, according to Reuters. "Your trial offers you a stage to the world."
In a recent letter seen by Norwegian newspaper VG, Breivik added: "The court case looks like it will be a circus ... it is an absolutely unique opportunity to explain the idea of (the manifesto) to the world."
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
What is he trying to say with the fist in the air? If they let this piece of human fecal matter live then not only is he insane but so are the authorites that have him in custody. If he is permited to live they should use him on experiments to cure sick people or even as a organ donor. Make his body useful for some kind of good.
You're too nice Anders Breivik, Norway. Stop treating him humanely.
I say give him a Sylvia Plath book and a full bottle of Ambien.
My hats off to the King and Queen for showing up at the scene for support.
I hope the good people of Norway will do the right thing and put this creep in the worst possible prison they have. If there is any justice in the world the guys in jail will see to it that every day left in his life will be a miserable one.
He J,
See my post below. That's misery!
Musicman you are an evil genius...
Aaaaw, you're just saying that.
Let's hope he is declared insane. Since, as many of you have pointed out, he can't be rehabilitated he'll spend the rest of his life in an institution. Worse, he'll have to spend the rest of his life talking to psychiatrists.
That's actually blood curdling cruelty. Far worse than mere physicial pain. Death would be a mercy.
"Cured"? Only if he demonstrates a willingness to take responsibility for his actions. So at that point he begins serving his sentence(s). After a decade or 2 of mind games, he'll be eager.
Like Dubbaya said... You are an evil genius! Muahahahaha!
21 years for 77 counts of murder?!?!? It's not often that I pine for the American style of justice, but this would definitely be one of those times.
I've gone through 7 pages of comments on this article, with comments raging from "let's send this guy to our Southern border to cure our immigration problem" to "so what? It's was just a bunch of muslims" or "just a bunch of liberals."
Some folks are sick, sick human beings. What's worse? The guy who commits the acts or the ones who tacitly condone his actions?
They are the same...and the reason America is going to hell.
I just can't believe that if found sane, that he would get only 20 yrs. Maybe 20 yrs for each person killed?!
If that's the case they should state that. The courts are apparently as insane as this man!
The solution is easy, make it a closed trial, much the same that they do if there is a minor on trial. Deny him his stage. I can't believe that he would only be facing up to 27 years!! He should be executed!!!
Putting him out of his misery is a kindness he doesn't deserve. See my post above.
What's a waste!!!! A waste of tax payer money, A waste of Country's Resource. He admitted that he had killed 77 innocent life so there is no need to appear for Trial, let do the the "short cut" and time to FRY him without give him any chance to speak or talk about "why he killed innocents life". All innocents life whom were a victim under his animal acted they did not have any chance to talk before dead under his bullet, so why he needs a chance for????
_SteveDang
I wish they would not call him the "lone wolf" killer. This is a tremendous insult to wolves.
True, but lone shark sounds too much like a credit card company.
Yeah... 21 years in prison for 77 lives. Seems totally fair to me! <--sarcasm for those too dim to get it -.-
It's obvious he has no remorse for what he did and this is all part of his "master plan". Knowing what they know about his intents to use the trial as a "stage" for his ideals they should institute a gag order. Although, I don't know if that sort of thing is admissable by Norweigan laws. They should make sure this man has no way of polluting the world with his ridiculous personal views, but this is the media we're talking about and they thrive on this sort of Idiocy.
Simple solution - bar media from the court room and monitor internet access in prison so it is even more difficult for him to bring attention to himself. Only 27 years - hopefully that would be 27 years for each person he killed.
If sane, he faces up to 21 years in prison?????? That is a MASSIVE INSULT to the victim's families. They need to inflict severe physical pain for as long as possible before watching him take his last breath; as soon as possible. To his victim's families...I am so sorry that you have to be so hurt twice like this.
Luke,
Instead, consider my idea (posted above) of declaring him insane, & making him talk to psychiatrists for the rest of his life. Mere physical pain would be a picnic by comparison.
He looks like he as a few screws loose, he committed murder and pleads "not guilty" that just goes to show he's not all there people.
Let's not forget that the Norvegians are also migrants. They migrated to this country, to Southern Italy, and actually migled with other immigrants, like Arabs...
Let him rant, there's no disinfectant like sunlight. He''ll make an ass of himself and people will quickly be bored and see what a bitter and twisted guy he is.
As for his sentence, I don't think anyone should be expecting revenge, that's a humbug. Charles Manson has been up for parole and he'll never get it and Breivick will likely always be a danger to society and won't get out either.
sane or not this guy should not take another breath. its a waste of the oxygen. He will be killed in the prison thats for sure before the end of this year.
As evil as someone could possibly be
Anti-Muslum extremist? call him what he is, he's a Christian terrorist!
It sounds more like a nationalist racist. I didn't get the impression he was religiously motivated.
In an automated system Blacks are made to be the antagonists in the media. I have yet to hear a situation in which a war is lead, chemtrailed skies or putting rat poison in cigarettes for the general mass to consume. That is my 2 cents for today
WTF? Take your meds dude.
this did not happen in America so if any american is posting his comment's they should pack up and get their ignorant ass out of America we do not need anymore ignorant people giving the media any attention in any non American Affairs, Americans need to deal with American issues and stop butting in world Affairs.
This is a world affair........your country has no problem asking America for funds to assist them....We have given 54 billion dollars to your small country.... your country has paid back ZERO.....so the next time you post something think about it in your small mind. And by the way we would stop butting in on world affairs if you people stop asking us for help........you would be speaking Russian now if it was not for America.....
LOL Brad ease up no one is butting in people are just giving their opinions on the story.So go take your meds and lie down awhile it will be ok.
there is somthing wrong if this man is only sentanced to 20 somthing years!! He should be killed for what he did!! he is not a man he is an animal
Please get this article off of world news. I don't want to hear about another guy who thinks it is a good idea to spread his ideology of superiority worldwide.