Jens David Breivik, Father Of Anders Behring Breivik, Says He Wishes Son Committed Suicide (VIDEO)

Jens David Breivik, the father of the man who confessed to Friday's attacks in Norway that killed 76 people, told the Swedish tabloid Expressen that he wishes his son had committed suicide.

"How could he just stand there and kill so many innocent people and just seem to think that what he did was OK?" Breivik asked during the interview, CBS News reports. "He should have taken his own life too. That's what he should have done."

Breivik, 76, retired to France after spending more than 30 years as a diplomat with assignments in London, Tehran and Paris, according to a Google translation of the Expressen article. He and Anders Behring Breivik's mother divorced in 1980 when their son was a year old.

Aside from a short phone call roughly a decade ago, Jens says he has not had contact with his son since 1995, per the translation.

CBS reports that Jens' home in southern France is under police protection.

"I feel awful," the elder Breivik said, according to The New York Times. "I am deeply sorry over this situation. It's awful for me personally, but it is also tragic for the whole country."

Anders Breivik, 32, pleaded not guilty to the attacks. He did, however, tell a Norwegian court on Monday that he carried out the attacks with two other "cells," although Norwegian police believe he acted alone, according to Reuters.

Read this full translation of The Expressen article for more.

WATCH: TV2's interview with Jens Breivik:

Comments

[Jim Shaffer]

06:40 PM on 07/26/2011

Hasn't spoken to his son in years - since adolescense, and now he wishes he'd've killed himself. Hmmm, speaks volumes about the killer's childhood. Still we all have to deal with negative conditionings, some probably much worse than his, and very few turn psycho-killer. One day Joe Average, the next schizo assasin. How can something like this be avoided!? Maybe it can't...

[TheBlondeRaven]

06:28 PM on 07/26/2011

The dad has 5 children, none of who he has any contanct with. Doesn't make him in anyway responsible for his son's actions, just makes him a bad parent.

[ChanelDanielson]

08:52 PM on 07/26/2011

Your links don't work for me.

[glace]

12:14 AM on 07/27/2011

Don't ever click on these link, they're spammers and may infect your computer with viruses. Flag them instead

[Chester Erickson]

12:08 AM on 07/27/2011

Spam

[canadaloki]

12:56 AM on 07/27/2011

Spam

[se72748]

04:05 PM on 07/26/2011

Anders Breivik says he was influanced by american radicals to commit the murders he commited,in Norway.Hmmm.I wonder who these american radicals are,that would kill their own countrymen in their irrational hatred of foreigners ,or political party??.In his blind hatred he joinned the very cause of the ones he hated ,to kill innocent men ,women and children.Only the most vile of men would do such a thing.He is as worse then the ones he hates because he kills his own..May his name live in infamy

[capercaper]

10:16 AM on 07/27/2011

Link please to where *he* says that he was influenced by "American radicals."

[isaluna]

02:08 PM on 07/26/2011

what a piece of work the father is...a cold fish. I almost feet sorry for Anders ...but I don't....makes a little more sense to the senselessness.

[femmyror]

05:06 PM on 07/26/2011

Maybe so, but how would you react if your son had just executed 76 people? I can't say I prefer the mothers of mass murderers who insist their son is really a "good boy"...

[mossypond]

02:06 PM on 07/26/2011

When there is this kind of crime - or any crime where many people have identified the killer at the scene and/or have conclusive proof such as video tape - the killer should NOT be allowed to plead "not guilty". It's a waste of time and a waste of money.

The only reason for a trial should be to determine what kind of punishment the killer receives.

[se72748]

04:09 PM on 07/26/2011

With so many eye witnesses to such a horrendous crime.He should be sentenced without a trial.Turned loose in a escape proof wooded area hunted down and shot.

[aandycross5]

01:21 PM on 07/26/2011

DISGUSTING, RIDICULOUS WASTE!!!

Father's quote: "He should have taken his own life too."
WRONG: He should have taken his own life FIRST / INSTEAD OF / LAST YEAR, whatever...

We've dealt with this kind of massacre before, and the only answer is:
KILL YOURSELF -- NOT US (YOU F__KING FREAKS) -- Get OFF of our planet - FAST!!!

[lorie912]

01:00 PM on 07/26/2011

What kind of a father leaves his son when he is one years old and never has anything to do with him again. Maybe his father is partly to blame for his son's bizarre act. When a boy is shunned by his father and does not feel loved, it has a terrible affect on him. There are no excuses for what this maniac did but how dare the father make a comment like that when he turned his back on his son and is probably part of the reason for his son's problems.

[Terri Breslau]

04:59 PM on 07/26/2011

Oh please let us not get into the scenerio that it is all because his father left when he was one. You do not know the circumstances under which he left or why he had no contact - maybe the mother did not allow it.....

[lorie912]

10:08 PM on 07/26/2011

I'm not saying it is the father's fault. I'm just saying that he has no right to make a comment lik that about his son when he had nothing to do with him his whole life. And I don't care what the circumstances were, there's no excuse for having nothing to do with your son your whole life. It's not up to the mother, the courts would allow him visitation.

[flkewlkid00]

12:55 PM on 07/26/2011

he must be very proud

[marianinia]

12:21 PM on 07/26/2011

i dont care how many excuses his father gives , he was not there for his son when he needed him , the formative years are important for kids , even if he was divorce from his mother , the least he should have done was have his kid for vacation , they are saying his son its crazy , but sometimes we dont realize the trauma a child suffers knowing that his father dont want him or that he was a mistake , or that he does not matter in the eyes of his father ,children can be very sensitive , i dont say what his son did was right , but we bring children into the world , be responsible for them and show them u love them , and maybe , maybe , children out there turn to be better citizens , better men / woman , or responsible adults .....now he feels his son should have kill himself , why ? because that absolves him from any culpability....

[outnow]

12:54 PM on 07/26/2011

The father should have made it his business to stay in touch with his own son. Typical European man in many ways, according to my wife who grew up there.

If the father had not had children, this would not have happened. The father did a poor job parenting and should take some credit for this tragedy. If he had taken responsibility, the perpetrator might have gotten some help.

[marianinia]

01:54 PM on 07/26/2011

thanks for u response . iam glad we are in the same wave lenght and u agree with me ....

[mossypond]

02:09 PM on 07/26/2011

Actually there are thousands of people who grow up neglected or even abused by their parents - but MOST of them do NOT turn into mass murderers. No, Anders is an adult, and he and no one else is responsible for his actions.

[marianinia]

05:22 AM on 07/27/2011

of course not that is not what i said ,but we cannot compare an apple with a pear .not everyone its the same .sometimes an apple fall far away from the tree.we cannot say that everyone has the same emotions .there are those who are more sensitive than others and those traumatic experiences remain in their subcouncious forever until they surface to to hunt their lifes ,then they use their anger to hurt others. thinking they are hurting those who have hurt them ....

[shadowfall71]

12:18 PM on 07/26/2011

As a Christian, my heart breaks for all those who lost loved ones in these senseless attacks, and for all of Norway.

But also as a Christian, I believe in the power of grace, and mercy, and redemption. If Breivik had killed himself, these things would have been denied him. And honestly, at this moment he is as far from redemption as if he'd died. But in time he may come to repent the hate he harbored, the lives he cut short, and the unbearable pain he brought.

No one is beyond God's grace. No one is beyond redemption. While he lives, there is yet hope for him; so I will not pray for his death.

[mossypond]

02:12 PM on 07/26/2011

And what about all the people he killed - they have been denied any redemption (if they needed any) because Anders cut their lives short. I hope God takes that into account.

[KarenOConnor]

02:21 PM on 07/26/2011

Not all Christians are flakes who think that it's better he killed so many than to take his own life because maybe the selfish hateful murderer will be redeemed and go to heaven. So easy to forgive when it's not your dead child. I read "my heart breaks for the the lost loved ones..." and then the big qualifing BUT.
This Christian believes in a God of justice who balances the scales in the end. As God knows our heart, should Breivik have planned this evil and felt compelled to carrry it out and then cried to God and sacrificed his life rather than be the hand of the Devil, there God's mercy would have been shown to his soul. Your logic would say better Hitler kill 10 million than die a premature death before his chance of redeemtion where he would recieve a happy hereafter. That is not what I hope for. I trust God to have more of a sense of justice than that.

[shadowfall71]

04:57 PM on 07/26/2011

I did not say that it was better for Breivik to have killed his victims than taken his own life; and I do not appreciate having your words stuffed into my mouth. But his suicide would not have atoned for the murders he had already committed.

If he had taken his own life instead of the lives of nearly 80 people, most of whom were children, that would have been better. If someone else had cut short his massacre by ending his life, that would have been better. If his death could have saved just one of his victims, that would have been better. But don't let your sense of indignation -- yes, justified as it is -- deceive you; whatever the case, we are talking about degrees of tragedy.

Nor is it easy for me to forgive Breivik, though easier for having not been personally affected. I forgive because, as a Christian, I must. I forgive because God commands it. I forgive because Jesus said, "If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you."

We claim the mercy and love of God for ourselves; we must extend it to others.

Anders Breivik, a Christian, preferred to fuel his hate rather than learn the grace and love of God. If you do the same, you will find yourself gazing into the same abyss, waiting for it to gaze into you.

[cat540011]

12:14 PM on 07/26/2011

I cannot imagine the heartache the parents of this young man are going through.

[paul m]

12:13 PM on 07/26/2011

You can tell maybe how the dad is implicated in all this from this his response.....

[kevinbr38]

12:36 PM on 07/26/2011

How so?

[piul05]

12:09 PM on 07/26/2011

The father divorces the mother; moves to London and her and her child stay in Oslo.

The last contact he had with his son was at the age of "15 or 16" - a short phone call.

And then, he says he "doesn't feel like his father".

Has he ever??

http://www.theage.com.au/world/i-dont-feel-like-his-father-killers-dad-20110726-1hxrx.html

http://www.imperfectparent.com/topics/2011/07/26/father-of-anders-behring-breivik-he-should-have-taken-his-own-life-too/