Breivik Admits Massacre But Pleads Not Guilty

[Dino Velvet]

http://news.yahoo.com/breivik-admits-massacre-pleads-not-guilty-084439935.html

Breivik Admits Massacre But Pleads Not Guilty

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/kjmVjizroQE0M3Nlej7hqQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9Zml0O2g9Mjc-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/logo/ap/ap_logo_106.png (http://www.ap.org/)Associated Press – 1 hr 16 mins ago


OSLO, Norway (AP) — The right-wing fanatic who admitted to killing 77 people in Norway has pleaded not guilty in court to terror and murder charges saying he was acting in self-defense.
After rejecting the court's authority, Anders Behring Breivik said Monday that he admits to the bombing in Oslo and a shooting massacre on Utoya island outside the capital on July 22.
Breivik told the court: "I admit to the acts, but not criminal guilt."
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
OSLO, Norway (AP) — The right-wing fanatic who confessed to killing 77 people in a bomb-and-shooting massacre went on trial in Norway's capital Monday, defiantly rejecting the authority of the court.
Anders Behring Breivik, dressed in a dark suit, smiled as a guard removed his handcuffs in the crowded court room. The 33-year-old then flashed a closed-fist 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.
Breivik also said he doesn't recognize the authority of Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen, because he said she is friends with the sister of former Norwegian Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Gro Harlem Brundtland.
The anti-Muslim militant described himself as a writer, currently working from prison, when asked by the judge for his employment status.
After opening statements Monday, Breivik is set to testify for five days, explaining why he set off a bomb in downtown Oslo, killing eight, and then shot to death 69 people, mostly teenagers, at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoya island, outside the Norwegian capital.
Breivik has admitted to the attacks, claiming they were necessary to protect Norway from being taken over by Muslims, but has rejected criminal guilt. He claims he targeted the government headquarters in Oslo and the youth camp to strike against the left-leaning political forces he blames for allowing immigration in Norway.
Breivik remained stone-faced and motionless as prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh read his indictment on terror and premeditated murder charges, including descriptions of how each victim died.
The key issue to be resolved during the 10-week trial is the state of Breivik's mental health, which will decide whether he is sent to prison or to psychiatric care.
If deemed mentally competent, he would face a maximum prison sentence of 21 years or an alternate custody arrangement under which the sentence is prolonged for as long as an inmate is deemed a danger to society.
Police sealed off the streets around the court building, where journalists, survivors and relatives of victims watched the proceedings in a 200-seat courtroom built specifically for the trial.
Thick glass partitions were put up to separate the defendant from victims and their families, many of whom are worried that Breivik will use the trial to promote his extremist political ideology. In a manifesto he published online before the attacks, Breivik wrote that "patriotic resistance fighters" should use trials "as a platform to further our cause."
Norway's NRK television will broadcast parts of the trial, but it is not allowed to show Breivik's testimony.
Breivik told investigators he is a resistance fighter in a far-right militant group modeled on the Knights Templar medieval crusaders, but police have found no trace of the organization and say he acted alone.
Anxious to prove he is not insane, he has called right-wing extremists and radical Islamists to testify during the trial, to show that there are others who share his view of clashing civilizations.
Breivik surrendered to police 1 hour and 20 minutes after he arrived on Utoya. The police response was slowed by a series of mishaps, including the lack of an operating police helicopter and the breakdown of an overloaded boat carrying a commando team to the island.
___
Associated Press writers Bjoern H. Amland and Julia Gronnevet contributed to this report.




http://l1.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120416/norway_uni.jpg

[jake9jake9]

Best justice system ever

[hippifried]

Oh I did it, but it's not my fault because I'm crazy.
I keep hearing these odd voices telling me to be stupid, &...

Oh wait! That's AM radio. Never mind.

[Prospero]

Oh I did it, but it's not my fault because I'm crazy.
I keep hearing these odd voices telling me to be stupid, &...

Oh wait! That's AM radio. Never mind.

Excellent. lol

[robertlouis]

Excellent. lol

The quiet calm and dignity in the courtroom is almost eerie. I can't imagine almost any other country dealing with such a horrifying event and repugnant individual with such grace as Norway. It's surely an object lesson to the rest of the world.

And another reflection. Like every other western European country, Norway has no death penalty. Isn't it just possible that the absence of the possibility that another life is at stake can allow for an objective and dispassionate investigation and assessment of the evidence in a way that the option of execution simply doesn't? It was certainly part of the debate when the UK abolished it in the 60s.

[Dino Velvet]

I do admire the Norwegian people. I feel horrible as I look at the innocent faces.

But, 77 cold blooded murders. I'm an American. I respect others' opinions but I would have him put to death if found competent and given a fair trial. Execution might not be a deterrent but it is punishment and possibly some closure for the families of victims.

[robertlouis]

I do admire the Norwegian people. I feel horrible as I look at the innocent faces.

But, 77 cold blooded murders. I'm an American. I respect others' opinions but I would have him put to death if found competent and given a fair trial. Execution might not be a deterrent but it is punishment and possibly some closure for the families of victims.

It's being followed very closely here, Dino, with lots of interviews with survivors and the families of those who lost loved ones, and there hasn't been one which has been filled with anger or bitterness. They are all reflective and often don't see any point in twisting themselves up. It's amazing, even from a UK perspective. The other thing which supports it is that the Norwegian media isn't sensationalist and doesn't subscribe to lcd and atavistic tabloid values. They appear to have responsible newspapers in a responsible society.

I find it perplexing, admirable and intensely moving by turns.

[Dino Velvet]

It's being followed very closely here, Dino, with lots of interviews with survivors and the families of those who lost loved ones, and there hasn't been one which has been filled with anger or bitterness. They are all reflective and often don't see any point in twisting themselves up. It's amazing, even from a UK perspective. The other thing which supports it is that the Norwegian media isn't sensationalist and doesn't subscribe to lcd and atavistic tabloid values. They appear to have responsible newspapers in a responsible society.

I find it perplexing, admirable and intensely moving by turns.

That's an amazing amount of restraint. I really feel for them and want this horrible person severely punished. Watching how he acts in the courtroom wanting to make a circus out of it makes me sick. I'm glad Tim McVeigh was executed and don't think anyone would bring him back if they had a chance.

The innocence that Breivik violated and extinguished...

[robertlouis]

That's an amazing amount of restraint. I really feel for them and want this horrible person severely punished. Watching how he acts in the courtroom wanting to make a circus out of it makes me sick. I'm glad Tim McVeigh was executed and don't think anyone would bring him back if they had a chance.

The innocence that Breivik violated and extinguished...

I think it's the hallmark of a civilised society that revenge is not a motive and justice is. Norway has one of the lowest prison population percentages in the world and their emphasis is primarily on rehabilitation which is why they also have one of the lowest reoffend rates.

I'm not questioning the sincerity, nor indeed the validity, of your strength of feeling on this, Dino, but it's clear that Norway both individually and collectively thinks very differently, and I admire them for that.

At the other extreme, I find that one of the greatest and most troubling paradoxes in the US is that so many people profess to being fervent Christians, yet at the same time take a primitively Old Testament stance on so many important social issues, like the death penalty, LGBT etc. The primary characteristic of much American Christianity seems to be hate, not love.

[Dino Velvet]

I think it's the hallmark of a civilised society that revenge is not a motive and justice is. Norway has one of the lowest prison population percentages in the world and their emphasis is primarily on rehabilitation which is why they also have one of the lowest reoffend rates.

I'm not questioning the sincerity, nor indeed the validity, of your strength of feeling on this, Dino, but it's clear that Norway both individually and collectively thinks very differently, and I admire them for that.

At the other extreme, I find that one of the greatest and most troubling paradoxes in the US is that so many people profess to being fervent Christians, yet at the same time take a primitively Old Testament stance on so many important social issues, like the death penalty, LGBT etc. The primary characteristic of much American Christianity seems to be hate, not love.

I don't judge Norway's lack of death penalty or any country's type of gun control. If their people like it and it works for them that's what matters. Those innocent faces of good people puts so much rage in my belly directed at Breivik. Me personally, it was the psychiatrists that kept the County from pinning a badge on me.

Find some devout Christians and ask them. I can't answer for them. I see your point. I asked my aunt once why Noah lived so long. She answered that people that time just lived longer. Want her phone number? Speak up as she's hard of hearing.

[hippifried]

At the time, the survivors were saying there was a second shooter. Did they change their minds? Officials were claiming "lone wolf" from day one. So I'm curious: Did anyone actually spend time investigating that aspect or did they just take the asshole's word for it?

[robertlouis]

At the time, the survivors were saying there was a second shooter. Did they change their minds? Officials were claiming "lone wolf" from day one. So I'm curious: Did anyone actually spend time investigating that aspect or did they just take the asshole's word for it?

There was huge panic and understandable hysteria on that terrible day. The Norwegian police subsequently found no evidence, ballistic or otherwise, to indicate the presence of another assassin

[Prospero]

I apologise if I appeared to make light of this dreadful event with my flip response to a joke posted earlier. Truly this was a horrible event and the trial is revealing Breivik to be an evil and preposterous man. As Hannah Arendt coined it - he is another reminder of "the banality of evil"

[Stavros]

Ardent was describing mass murder on an industrial scale in which layers of officials and operatives do their daily work as if killing people were no different from making shirts: hence the 'banality'; Breivik is not a bureaucract, he was acting alone and possessed, or obsessed with a mission he designed himself: nothing banal about him or his act at all. Narcissim taken to the point of madness. He still clearly believes he is the most important man in Norway and that was he has to say is of phenomenal importance. The mere fact that the only time he was moved was when he saw himself on screen sums it up.

[Prospero]

Stavros - I know what she was referring to. The reference is from "Eichmann in Jerusalem", I believe.
But I still think describing this sad little monster as banal is entirely appropriate. His obscene narcissim when measured against the circumstances of his life mark him as a banal person seeking to be extraordinary through these deeds.

[jimbo1974]

He is a sick fame whore. This trial is the highlight of the fuckwits life - his 15 minutes of fame.

Utter tool who deserves to be locked up forever

[Stavros]

Stavros - I know what she was referring to. The reference is from "Eichmann in Jerusalem", I believe.
But I still think describing this sad little monster as banal is entirely appropriate. His obscene narcissim when measured against the circumstances of his life mark him as a banal person seeking to be extraordinary through these deeds.

I dont want to split any hairs on this, but that would be a re-definition of banal; Breivik isn't a faceless bureaucrat, claiming to be working under orders from someone above him, he acted alone or in concert with a few fanatics who might have included 'Richard the Lionheart' in the UK and some others, although it isn't clear from his evidence how much is just waffle.

It is a coincidence that today the Guardian reports of his testimony in court: "Breivik indicated that he saw himself a "martyr" who had "sacrificed himself" in order to inspire others to follow his example. True role models can achieve credibility though "an action, an operation", he said" as last week I watched the three-part, 6-hour version of Carlos, and at the beginning of the film he tells his sister something similar: 'the time now is for action', and then like Breivik goes on to prove he was just a narcissistic hard-drinking killer with inflated claims to be fighting for the Palestinians and so on.Except Carlos actually worked for the PFLP at the time, whereas Breivik has either invented the 'Knights of Malta' or maybe they do exist.

[Prospero]

Indeed a different use of banal. This man was a mediocrity. A nobody until he achieved fame or rather infamy by this massacre. He was banal.


I saw the full six hour version of Carlos also - and as I recall he seems to have had some beliefs that were attached to a genuine cause. He was not a lone madman. He was then used and abused and dumped by those he'd worked for.

[Stavros]

Indeed a different use of banal. This man was a mediocrity. A nobody until he achieved fame or rather infamy by this massacre. He was banal.


I saw the full six hour version of Carlos also - and as I recall he seems to have had some beliefs that were attached to a genuine cause. He was not a lone madman. He was then used and abused and dumped by those he'd worked for.

Agree with you on Carlos, but he deserved what he got. The film was inaccurate at many points, and there is also some dispute about the OPEC incident in Vienna, where in the film Carlos and his gang get their weapons from the Iraqi embassy, whereas David Yallop in his book on Carlos claims they got them from the Libyan Embassy.

[irvin66]

He's not going to get out of jail ever. Detention is one of the so-called criminal sanctions introduced in the Norwegian legal system in 2001. Offenders by a court deemed sane, can be sentenced to custody if there is a high risk that the offender might repeat the crime or considered a danger to society. Containment is currently the only instrument the Norwegian courts have at their disposal to impose a real life sentence offenders, as there is no upper limit to such a judgment duration. People who perceived unpredictable moment in deed can not be sentenced custody, but instead may be imposed compulsory mental health care or enforced care.
In a custody judgment of the court shall fix a time frame that generally should not exceed 15 years, and can not exceed 21 years. Following the request of prosecutors, the court may nevertheless, in a judgment extending the specified limit by up to 5 years. Case for an extension be brought before the court within three months before the expiry of detention. It should also be made for a minimum period of detention which shall not exceed 10 years. Containment is currently the only instrument the Norwegian courts have at their disposal to impose a real life sentence offenders, as there is no upper limit to such a judgment duration.
So he is going to serve in prison for life. :geek:

[Dino Velvet]

He's not going to get out of jail ever. Detention is one of the so-called criminal sanctions introduced in the Norwegian legal system in 2001. Offenders by a court deemed sane, can be sentenced to custody if there is a high risk that the offender might repeat the crime or considered a danger to society. Containment is currently the only instrument the Norwegian courts have at their disposal to impose a real life sentence offenders, as there is no upper limit to such a judgment duration. People who perceived unpredictable moment in deed can not be sentenced custody, but instead may be imposed compulsory mental health care or enforced care.
In a custody judgment of the court shall fix a time frame that generally should not exceed 15 years, and can not exceed 21 years. Following the request of prosecutors, the court may nevertheless, in a judgment extending the specified limit by up to 5 years. Case for an extension be brought before the court within three months before the expiry of detention. It should also be made for a minimum period of detention which shall not exceed 10 years. Containment is currently the only instrument the Norwegian courts have at their disposal to impose a real life sentence offenders, as there is no upper limit to such a judgment duration.
So he is going to serve in prison for life. :geek:

Thanks for your input, irvin. I really appreciate it.:cheers:

[Stavros]

Irvin I have read that the last peacetime execution in Norway was in 1876 -Quisling and some others were executed after the war but was that a military tribunal or a regular court? But since capital punishment has been abolished (in 1979) why is Breivik arguing to be set free or executed if he knows capital punishment has been abolished? Does he think he is so special they should change the law just for him? I know he has an inflated sense of his own importance...

[irvin66]

Irvin I have read that the last peacetime execution in Norway was in 1876 -Quisling and some others were executed after the war but was that a military tribunal or a regular court? But since capital punishment has been abolished (in 1979) why is Breivik arguing to be set free or executed if he knows capital punishment has been abolished? Does he think he is so special they should change the law just for him? I know he has an inflated sense of his own importance...

Yes that is correct. The settlement began with extensive arrests after the German capitulation on 8 May 1945. The arrests resulted in lawsuits against 92,805 accused, of which about 46,085 were convicted, 30 received the death penalty, 17 000 received prison sentences, and the rest were fine or other penalty. :geek:
I do not know what he's thinking, but he has a distorted picture of the reality. And I'm not sure if anyone knows what's going on in his sick mind.