Dressed in a dark suit and sporting a thin beard, Breivik smiled as a guard removed his handcuffs in the crowded court room. The 33-year-old then flashed his salute before shaking hands with prosecutors and court officials.
“I don’t recognize Norwegian courts because you get your mandate from the Norwegian political parties who support multiculturalism,” Breivik said in his first comments to the court.
Eight people were killed in Breivik’s bombing of Oslo’s government district and 69 were slain in his shooting massacre at the left-leaning Labor Party’s youth camp on Utoya island outside the capital. Breivik has said the attacks were necessary to protect Norway from being taken over by Muslims.
“I admit to the acts, but not criminal guilt,” he told the court, insisting he had acted in self-defense.
It’s important to note that Breivik went on an island full of camp-goers and started shooting. The odds that any of them had weapons and posed a danger to Breivik is nil.
EDIT: We initially had a different phrase in place of “camp-goers,” but it was clouding the point a tad, so we changed it. Also, he’s speaking in favor of a concept of “preventative self-defense,” which legally exists as a concept in Norway, but nonetheless seems like a hard sell considering the nature of the crime. What would he have prevented by killing all these people? What risk did they create for him?
Psychiatrists: Norway shooting suspect legally insane. Anders Behring Breivik, the man charged in a bombing and shooting rampage that left dozens of people dead earlier this summer, was determined to be insane by Norwegian police, who determined he was psychotic during both the shooting and 13 later interviews. Breivik has not learned of the decision, which likely means two things: First, he probably won’t get jail time, due to Norwegian law. Second, he could be put in a mental hospital for the rest of his life, based on what a court decides. The report contradicts a court decision on the matter earlier this month. (Check our Tumbl-Zine for more background on this story.)