Anders Behring Breivik trial: Diagnosing me as insane is an evil fabrication, says killer

MASS killer Anders Breivik has claimed that a psychiatric report that declared him insane was based on “evil fabrications” meant to portray him as irrational and unintelligent.

The right-wing extremist, who has admitted killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage last July, told the Oslo trial: “It is not me who is described in that report.”

A second psychiatric examination found Breivik was sane. The five-judge panel trying him on terror charges for the attacks will consider both reports.

Breivik’s mental state is the key issue that remains unresolved in the trial, since he has admitted a bombing in Oslo’s government district that killed eight people and the subsequent shooting massacre at a Labour Party youth camp that left 69 people dead, most of them teenagers.

He claims the attacks were “necessary” and that the victims had betrayed Norway by embracing immigration.

If found guilty and sane, Breivik would face 21 years in prison, although he can be held longer if deemed a danger to society. If declared insane, he would be committed to compulsory psychiatric care.

“To a political activist, the worst thing that can happen is to end up in a mental hospital,” Breivik said. “That would delegitimise everything you stand for.”

Breivik showed no remorse yesterday as he listened to evidence describing the horrific injuries of the bombing victims, declaring instead that if anyone should apologise it was the governing Labour Party.

He said he had hoped it would change Norway’s policy on immigration after his attacks. “But instead they continue in the same direction, so the grounds for struggle are unfortunately even more relevant now than before 22 July,” Breivik said.

Sounding irritated, the 33-year-old Norwegian accused the two psychiatrists who declared him psychotic of deciding on the diagnosis prematurely, saying their judgment was clouded by their emotional response to the attacks. “They lack expertise in evaluating violent political activists,” he said.

He also disagreed with the second report on his mental health, by two other psychiatrists who found him “narcissistic” and “dissocial” but not criminally insane.

Breivik claims to belong to an anti-Muslim militant group inspired by crusaders and working with two other cells in Norway. Investigators do not believe the group exists.

“It is a real network,” Breivik insisted, saying police cannot conclude that the group does not exist simply because they have not found it.

“If you use that logic, then I didn’t exist either before 22 July,” Breivik said. “I wouldn’t want to be the police spokesman when the next attack happens in Norway. Because it will happen.”

Earlier yesterday, victim’s relatives wept in the courtroom as forensic experts presented post-mortem reports of victims, including two passers-by who were torn to pieces by the Oslo bombing. Breivik was expressionless.

A 26-year-old man who was hit by debris outside the building recalled he did not immediately realise he had been injured. Eivind Dahl Thoresen said that it was only when he rushed to help another victim that he realised something was wrong with him, too.

He said he saw blood pumping out of his left arm. His jeans were soaked with blood, and he sat down and cried for help. “I felt alternately cold and warm,” he said. “At that point I was sure I would die.”

Thousands of Norwegians are to take to the streets of Oslo today to sing a children’s song calling for peace and fraternity, in a protest against Breivik. They plan to sing arm-in-arm a few blocks from the courthouse where Breivik is on trial.