Anders Behring Breivik roundup: killer defends mental state as nation stands defiant

Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik has again defended his sanity in court, claiming he slept well, ate breakfast and prepared a ham and cheese sandwich for his lunch on the day of his dual terror attacks. The right-wing extremist, who admits killing 77 people on July 22 last year, was allowed to testify about his mental health for several hours on Wednesday (April 25).

Disputing the first court-appointed psychiatric assessment, conducted by Synne Sørheim and Torgeir Husby, Breivik said the psychiatrists had decided in advance that he was insane and then tried to justify their ruling with “lies” and “pure fiction”. He also claimed the pair is not qualified to deal with politically motivated violence and that the psychiatry used in Norway’s legal system is politically motivated. He added that he would never have been considered insane if he was an Islamist militant.

The 33-year-old, who set a bomb outside government offices in Oslo before shooting scores of teenagers at a youth camp for the ruling Labour Party, said he had a good childhood and that there is no trace of mental illness in his family. He also disputed the results of a test that found him to be “retarded”.

In an act of defiance and solidarity, 40,000 people gathered in central Olso the day after Breivik’s testimony to sing a peace song that he lamented in his so-called ‘extremist manifesto’. The crowd the left roses by Oslo City Court in what Geir Engebretsen, the man in charge of the terror trial, called “a manifestation of Norwegian culture”.

“It’s a beautiful, touching scene,” Engebretsen told NRK. “In terrible weather, with roses in their hands, it’s a very moving manifestation of Norwegian culture.”

Friday saw survivors of the Oslo bomb attack take to the stand, with an amputee and a blinded man among the witnesses. Court has now been adjourned until Thursday, May 3.

Breivik admits the attacks but denies criminal responsibility, claiming his actions were necessary to protect Norway for Islamists and multiculturalism.