Norwegian massacre: Honour me then let me go, Anders Behring Breivik tells Norwegian court

By BJOERN AMLAND
Published on Tuesday 7 February 2012 00:00

SMIRKING as he was led into court, the right-wing extremist who massacred 77 people in Norway’s worst peacetime killing said yesterday that he deserves a medal of honour for what he did and demanded to be set free.

Appearing in public view for the first time since his attack – handcuffed and dressed in a dark suit, Anders Behring Breivik attended Oslo district court for his last scheduled detention hearing before his trial starts in April.

Once in the chamber, he stretched out his arms in what his lawyer, Geir Lippestad, said was “some kind of right-wing extremist greeting”.

Reading from prepared remarks, the 32-year-old Norwegian told the court that the 22 July massacre – carried out with a bomb, a rifle and a handgun – was a strike against “traitors” he said are embracing immigration to promote “an Islamic colonisation of Norway”.

“We in the Norwegian movement will not sit and see that we are made a minority in our own country,” the anti-Islam fanatic told the packed courtroom.

“The attacks on the government headquarters were preventive attacks on people committing cultural destruction of Norwegian culture and Norwegian ethnicity,” he said.

As in earlier hearings, Breivik admitted to setting off the bomb outside the government headquarters in Oslo and opening fire at a Labour Party youth camp on Utoya island, outside the capital, but denied criminal responsibility and rejected the authority of the court. About 100 survivors and relatives of victims watched in disbelief, as Breivik asked to be released, and told the judge he should receive a military honour for Norway’s most deadly peacetime attacks.

Judge Wenche Gjelsten ordered him to remain in custody until the trial begins on 16 April.

Breivik faces terror charges, which carry up to 21 years in prison. However, if he’s deemed gravely mentally ill he will be sent to psychiatric care.

“It wasn’t good that he got to say what he wanted to say,” said Amel Baltic, a 16-year-old survivor of the Utoya massacre. “It made me irritated.”

Many survivors have expressed concern that Breivik will use court hearings to draw attention to his extremist views. A psychiatric evaluation found Breivik criminally insane, but a second evaluation was ordered amid criticism of that diagnosis.

Breivik has refused to co-operate with psychiatrists in the second review.

Unlike the only previous public hearing, Breivik this time agreed to let himself be photographed before the proceedings began.

His defence lawyer suggested Breivik’s remarks yesterday foreshadowed what is to come in the trial. “It’s a preparation for the trial. Much of this case is about his personality,” Mr Lippestad said.

Breivik claims he is a commander of a militant organisation aiming to overthrow European governments and replace them with what he called “patriotic” regimes that would deport Muslim immigrants.

Police have not found any trace of this supposed network of “Knights Templar” and say Breivik carried out the attacks on his own.

In a lengthy manifesto posted on the internet before the attacks began, Breivik wrote that he was targeting “traitors” whose left-wing views and softness on immigration had brought the country low.

“The ethnic Norwegians will be a minority in Oslo in the next 10 years. It is a fact. I represent Norwegian resistance,” he told the court.