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Anders Behring Breivik Trial: Norway Killer Says Insane Diagnosis Based On 'Fabrications'

By KARL RITTER and JULIA GRONNEVET 04/25/12 11:43 AM ET AP

OSLO, Norway — Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik slammed a psychiatric report that declared him insane, insisting Wednesday it was based on "evil fabrications" meant to portray him as irrational and unintelligent.

"It is not me who is described in that report," the right-wing extremist, who has admitted to killing 77 people in a July 22 bomb-and-shooting rampage, said in court.

A second psychiatric examination found that Breivik was sane. The five-judge panel trying Breivik on terror charges for the attacks will consider both reports.

Breivik's mental state is the key issue that remains unresolved in the trial, since he has admitted to a bombing in Oslo's government district that killed eight people and a subsequent shooting massacre at a Labor Party youth camp that left 69 people dead, most of them teenagers. He claims the attacks were "necessary" and that the victims had betrayed Norway by embracing immigration.

If found guilty and sane, Breivik would face 21 years in prison, though he can be held longer if deemed a danger to society. If declared insane, he would be committed to compulsory psychiatric care.

"To a political activist, the worst thing that can happen is to end up in a mental hospital," Breivik said. "That would delegitimize everything you stand for."

Breivik showed no remorse Wednesday as he listened to testimony describing the horrific injuries of the bombing victims, declaring instead that if anyone should apologize it was the governing Labor Party.

He said he had hoped they would change Norway's policy on immigration after his attacks.

"But instead they continue in the same direction, so the grounds for struggle are unfortunately even more relevant now than before July 22," Breivik said.

Sounding irritated, the 33-year-old Norwegian accused the two psychiatrists who declared him psychotic of deciding on the diagnosis prematurely, saying their judgment was clouded by their emotional response to the attacks.

"These are not innocent misunderstandings, they are evil fabrications to support their conclusion," Breivik said, adding that the psychiatrists lacked "expertise in evaluating violent political activists."

He also criticized the second report on his mental health, by two other psychiatrists who found him "narcissistic" and "dissocial" but not criminally insane.

"I don't agree with any of the diagnoses," Breivik said.

Breivik claims to belong to an anti-Muslim militant group inspired by medieval crusaders and working with two other cells in Norway. Investigators have said they don't believe the group exists, and prosecutor Svein Holden noted that the second psychiatric report described it as a "fantasy."

"It is a real network," Breivik insisted, saying that police cannot conclude that the group doesn't exist just because they haven't found it.

"If you use that logic, then I didn't exist either before July 22," Breivik said. "I wouldn't want to be the police spokesman when the next attack happens in Norway. Because it will happen."

Asked what he thought his life would be like after the trial, Breivik said he expected to be imprisoned for life rather than "chemically lobotomized."

"I think all of Norway has seen that I'm not irrational," he said. "I'm not worried about that anymore."

Earlier Wednesday, victims' relatives sobbed in the courtroom as forensic experts presented autopsy reports of those killed, including two passers-by who were torn to pieces by the Oslo bombing. Breivik was expressionless.

A 26-year-old man who was hit by debris on the street outside the building and hospitalized for three weeks recalled that he didn't immediately realize that he had been injured.

Eivind Dahl Thoresen testified that it was only when he rushed to help another victim that he realized something was wrong with him, too.

"The way he looked at me: 'Are you going to help me? Look at yourself,'" Thoresen told the court.

Thoresen said he then saw blood pumping out of his left arm. His jeans were soaked with blood. He sat down and cried for help as panic started to set in.

Two people provided first aid, bandaging his wounds with clothes that Thoresen was carrying. Thoresen's lawyer showed the court a picture of the grim scene, taken by one of the men who helped him. Thoresen was on the ground, grimacing in agony, his white T-shirt stained by blood.

"I felt alternately cold and warm," Thoresen said. "At that point I was sure I would die."

He was taken to a hospital where doctors surgically removed shards from his arms and legs. He had another operation just a few weeks ago and still walks on crutches.

____

Ritter can be reached at http://twitter.com/karl_ritter

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Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing extremist who confessed to a bombing and mass shooting that killed 77 people on July 22, 2011, arrives for a detention hearing at a court in Oslo, Norway, Monday, Feb. 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Heiko Junge, Scanpix Norway)

Breivik is charged with terrorism and premeditated murder for a bombing in Oslo's government district, killing eight, and a shooting attack at a political youth camp, killing 69. He admits to the attacks but rejects criminal guilt. If convicted he would face a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison, though sentences can be extended if a criminal is considered a menace to society. If declared insane by the court, he would be committed to psychiatric care. Both sides can appeal the ruling to a higher court.

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OSLO, Norway — Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik slammed a psychiatric report that declared him insane, insisting Wednesday it was based on "evil fabrications" meant to portray him as irrationa...
OSLO, Norway — Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik slammed a psychiatric report that declared him insane, insisting Wednesday it was based on "evil fabrications" meant to portray him as irrationa...
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01:23 AM on 04/27/2012
Definately the psychiatrists are the crueler punishment .NOW he's worried!
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
BMcCue7
I'm Buddy McCue (and you're not.)
05:43 PM on 04/26/2012
I like to listen to the BBC's podcast, "Newspod."

In their coverage of this trial, they routinely identify Breivik as a "Rightwing Extremist." That's language that our own media here in the United States does not care to use. Every time a Rightwinger goes off the rails here, he is never described as such.

Our own media is terrified to be called "liberal," so they don't do things like that.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
CubnKira
10:05 AM on 04/26/2012
Brevick also said that he got his INSPIRATION from the muslim extremist group al Qaeda, whom he called the most successful terror organization.
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BlackWidowPilot
"Fu! Rin! Ka! Zan!"
04:56 PM on 04/27/2012
Not very successful as Usama bin Laden has been sent on to his "reward," most of the original members are either dead or in hiding, bin Laden and al Qaeda are universally vilified the world over, and on the evidence the offshoot groups trying to capitalize on the Al Qaeda name are hardly in a position to strike the United States directly any time soon.

Breivik may claim he took inspiration from bin Laden, citizen, but his ideology is fanatically extreme, clinically deranged, demonstrably fascistic, and uncompromisingly anti-Muslim obvious to the proverbial dead blind man in a blacked-out room.

Leland R. Erickson

Citizen
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
realitytrumpsbull
Two 'alves of coconut!
08:45 AM on 04/26/2012
Insane or no, if his guilt has been established in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt, it's off to the concrete room he can't get out of, for the rest of his life. Or, 14 days with no dessert, depending on how lenient the court system is feeling this week...
ironchefjay2
Good politician = one without a job
08:32 AM on 04/26/2012
When was the last time an insane man claim he was insane in court?.....I think never.
08:10 AM on 04/26/2012
Anyone that kills children should be given to the parents to that he can die a very slow and painful death.
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06:49 PM on 04/26/2012
Not this guy. The bereaved families and survivors of his rampage have been rather vocal in supporting their government's approach to the whole matter, insisting that they have full belief and confisence in their nation's ability to deal with him in an appropriate manner. What you are asking for seems to be vengeance. What the Norwegians want is justice. The two things are not the same.
07:34 PM on 04/26/2012
What I'm asking for is vengance. I'm very aware the two are not the same. Thank you einstein
MHT73
words matter
07:34 AM on 04/26/2012
The latests news on this is being listed under ENTERTAINMENT!!!

No comments are being included in that item. If there's a moderator reading this, news like this belongs in World, in Crime, or maybe even in politics, but NOT in Entertainment.
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Facing terror with music, tens of thousands gathered in squares across Norway to sing a children's song that gunman Anders Behring Breivik claimed is being used to brainwash young Norwegians.

The defiant Facebook protest against the right-wing fanatic took place as survivors gave tearful testimony Thursday in his trial for the July 22 bombing-and-shooting rampage that killed 77 people, mostly teenagers.

Some 40,000 people converged at a central square in Oslo in the pouring rain to sing the 1970's song "Children of the Rainbow" – a Norwegian version of American folk music singer Pete Seeger's "Rainbow Race."
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12:44 PM on 04/26/2012
Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't heard about it.

There's a nice video link in this LATimes article:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/04/norwegian-masses-sing-rainbow-song-breivik-despises-video.html
MHT73
words matter
07:49 PM on 04/26/2012
Thank you!
06:56 AM on 04/26/2012
This guy can get his own talk show on FOX news
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
BMcCue7
I'm Buddy McCue (and you're not.)
05:45 PM on 04/26/2012
He could have a regular feature wherein he speaks of the "dangers of multiculturalism" in our society.

The views of Rightwingers here in this county have a lot in common with the views of Anders Breivik.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Val Mercy
In war, truth is the first casualty.
05:27 AM on 04/26/2012
In the United States he would no doubt be found criminally sane. He suffers from mental illness, but he knows morality, he knows LEGALITY and he weight the choices and chose to kill to make a political point. He suffers from a personality disorder, yes, but so do many. His is extreme and it does sound like he is very anti-medication so perhaps some have attempted to medicate him before? At any rate, he can take his pills in prison, IMO.
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JCleveland
You think, therefore you think you are
04:57 AM on 04/26/2012
Insane is a label to make society feel better. It doesn't really get at the heart of the matter. Of course he's insane. The response is what matters.
03:43 AM on 04/26/2012
I am afraid that he is trying to marter himself for his cause, life in solitary confinment is what is needed here with no more media coverage.
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JCleveland
You think, therefore you think you are
04:58 AM on 04/26/2012
Yeah, that's not how they do it in Norway. Though they do have an "ignore" button on the main Newspaper's site...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
RobertHenryEller
a micro-bio hp can handle
03:42 AM on 04/26/2012
He's as sane as Dick Cheney.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
RobertHenryEller
a micro-bio hp can handle
03:38 AM on 04/26/2012
He killed 77 people. And in Norway, his maximum sentence in 21 years in prison.

What do the Norwegians consider a crime punishable by life imprisonment?

Would they condemn someone to life in prison if the person wiped out the population of Oslo?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Val Mercy
In war, truth is the first casualty.
05:29 AM on 04/26/2012
That could be part of the reason why he's fighting the insane finding. They could lock him up indefinitely if found a danger.
06:21 AM on 04/26/2012
I think the problem is that those of us here in Norway are getting a little worn out explaining this over and over again. The claim that no one can ever serve more than 21 years in a Norwegian prison is simply wrong. There is an alternate program for extremely dangerous individuals which can be extended to a life sentence if necessary.

Whether ABB is sent to prison or to a mental institution, he will only leave in a stout pine box.
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12:38 PM on 04/26/2012
Your patience is admirable.
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Skeetshooter
Artist, writer, provocateur
02:10 AM on 04/26/2012
Hitler, Stalin, Milosovich, were all high functioning sociopaths, but Freud said you're only nuts if you're too dysfunctional to go to work. Breivik, it seems, is also a highly motivated guy, so horrible as he is, he makes a persuasive argument.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
beautyandblack
war vetran
01:14 AM on 04/26/2012
The lawyer has favorite liking is take the plea of insanity, mental illness etc to dodge the law and help Save the terrorist. The lawyers would not allow any to refer these criminals as terrorist which carries no meaning. Why not call a sped a sped and a terrorist a terrorist.