Anders Behring Breivik trial ends with killer demanding to be acquitted

THE trial of Anders Behring Breivik, 33, ended yesterday with the self-confessed mass murderer demanding to be set free and vowing that history would exonerate him for his bomb-and-gun rampage that killed 77 people.

THE trial of Anders Behring Breivik, 33, ended yesterday with the self-confessed mass murderer demanding to be set free and vowing that history would exonerate him for his bomb-and-gun rampage that killed 77 people.

The self-styled anti-Muslim militant got the final word in the ten-week proceedings.

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In a rambling statement, Breivik ranted against multi-culturalism and drew mocking laughter when he said that having non-ethnic Norwegians representing the country in the recent Eurovision Song Contest was a sign of its “self-hatred”.

At one point, he also directed criticism at sexually liberated lifestyle of the characters in the TV show Sex and the City.

“I think we all can agree that on July 22, a barbaric thing happened,” Breivik said. “I remember that on July 21, I thought after many years of planning, that tomorrow I will die … and what is it I will die for?”

Breivik had confessed to the killing rampage in which he first detonated a bomb outside government headquarters in Oslo which killed eight bystanders, then systematically gunned down 69 people, many of them teenagers, at a summer camp run by the ruling Labour Party on the island of Utoeya.

He did not, however, accept the charges of terrorism and murder, saying the attacks were on “traitors” whose left-wing views and soft policy on immigration had damaged the country and that he was acting to defend the Norwegian people.

The killings stunned the country and his trial also proved traumatic as Breivik coldly recounted the manner in which he had picked off his victims and spouted his extreme right-wing and racist views.

Survivors also gave harrowing accounts of their ordeal.

Earlier, defence lawyer Geir Lippestad had tried to prove his client is sane – the key issue to be resolved in the trial since Breivik admits the attacks.

Mr Lippestad also formally entered a plea for acquittal, but it was made out of principle, without any realistic chance of success.

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Also yesterday, relatives of some of those killed tried to put their loss in words. Kirsti Loevlie, whose daughter Hanne, 30, was killed by the bomb, moved the courtroom to tears when she described the shock of finding out her daughter was dead, the grief of cleaning out her room and the first Christmas without her.

Ms Loevlie said she felt a need to attend the trial, seeing Breivik in a position where he couldn’t hurt anyone any more. She said: “I am not going to be afraid of this man. I decided I would go to court. I felt I owed it to Hanne.”

There was applause and audible sobs as she finished her statement. Breivik remained motionless, his face blank.

Mr Lippestad tried to prove to the court that Breivik’s claims of being a resistance fighter in a struggle to protect Norway and Europe from being colonised by Muslims are not delusional, but part of a political view shared by other right-wing extremists.

“He realised that it is wrong to kill, but he chose to kill. That’s what terrorists do,” Mr Lippestad said. “The ends justify the means. You don’t understand this if you don’t understand the culture of right-wing extremists.”

However, prosecutors on Thursday called for an insanity ruling, saying there was enough doubt about Breivik’s mental state to preclude a prison sentence.

The five-judge panel will announce its ruling on 24 August.

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