Breivik calls for governments to stand down

Anders Behring Breivik, who confessed to killing 77 people in the double terror attacks in Norway, has requested that the country’s government stands down and that his mental health is only assessed by Japanese specialists.

The 32 year-old right-wing extremist, who shot 69 people at a Labour Party youth camp and killed eight in an Oslo bomb blast on 22nd July, said he would share information about alleged terrorist cells if the Norwegian and European governments dissolve. He also believes that only “the Japanese understand the idea and values of honour”, and should therefore be charged with assessing his psychological well-being.

His lawyer, Geir Lippestad, who believes his client is probably insane, called the demands “far from the real world” and “completely impossible to fulfil”, adding that Breivik clearly “doesn’t know how society works”. He told the Associated Press, “It shows that he doesn’t understand the situation he’s in.” Lippestad said the Norwegian national also requested civilian clothes and cigarettes.

Meanwhile, Siv Jensen, the leader of the country’s right-wing Progress Party, of which Breivik used to be a member, reminded Norwegians that the country still faces a threat from Islamic extremists. “All the debates that we had prior to 22 July will come back. All the challenges that Norway was facing and the challenges that the world was facing are still there. Al-Qaeda is still there,” he told AFP. “The new thing is that we have been in a horrible way reminded of the fact that terrorism can come in many different forms, with different rhetoric behind it, with different crazy ideas behind it.”

In a separate interview with the Associated Press, Jensen called the terrorist’s views “perversely unique”, and said the party saw no indication that he was unbalanced during his membership between 1999 and 2006. “It was impossible for us to foresee at the time. He obviously changed in recent years without anyone knowing,” she added.

Breivik has been charged with acts of terrorism and is undergoing a psychological evaluation, with the findings due in November.