Anders Behring Breivik is giving evidence on the second day of his trial for killing 77 people in Norway on a single day last July
Anders Behring Breivik clenches his fist in a far-right salute as he arrives in court for the second day of his murder trial in Oslo. Photograph: Stoyan Nenov/Reuters
Helen Pidd has filed an account of the morning's proceedings. I will post a link when it goes up on the Guardian website. In the meantime, here are some excerpts:
He [Breivik] expressed no regret for planning and carrying out the attacks which left 77 dead last summer. Maintaining he acted out of "goodness not evil" to prevent a "major civil war", Breivik insisted, "I would have done it again." ...He quoted from a variety of sources to support his case, including, he said, a story written in the Times in February 2010 which he said reported that "three out of five Englishmen believe that the UK has turned into a dysfunctional society as a result of multiculturalism." The Guardian has not yet found evidence of Times report.Breivik told the court that "ridiculous" lies had been told about him, rattling off a list which accused him of being a narcissist who was obsessed with the red jumper he wore to his first court hearing, of having a "bacterial phobia", "an incestuous relationship with my mother", "of being a child killer despite no one who died on Utoya being under 14".He was not insane, he repeated many times. He claimed it was Norway's politicians who should be locked up the sort of mental institution he can expect to spend the rest of his days if the court declares him criminally insane at the end of the ten-week trial. He said: "They expect us to applaud our ethnic and cultural doom... They should be characterised as insane, not me. Why is this the real insanity? This is the real insanity because it is not rational to work to deconstruct ones own ethnic group, culture and religion."Breivik insisted he was not alone in fighting against "mass immigration". He singled out as examples the National Socialist Underground, the neo-Nazi terror cell responsible for killing nine immigrants and one policewoman in Germany, and Peter Mangs, the man suspected of carrying out a seven-year killing spree in the Swedish city of Malmö.It is important, he said, that these "heroic young people" should be "celebrated" for "sacrificing" their lives for the "conservative revolution"
Breveik has concluded his statement, asking to be found not guilty.
I cannot plead guilty, I acted to defend my country. So I ask to be acquitted.
The court will now take a lunch break until 11.30am BST.
Breivik has said he is exercising "self-censorship, just so you know" but there is little evidence of that.
Helen Pidd writes:After insisting that he would have "done it again" because "the offences against my people and my fellow partisans" are "as bad", Breivik said he had not targetted innocent young people on Utøya. He said those on the island on 22 July were "brainwashed". Those he killed, he said, were "not innocent non-political children; these were young people who worked to actively uphold multicultural values."
Breivik has claimed his views chime at least partially with those of the leaders of France, Germany and the UK who he says have all expressed the opinion that multiculturalism does not work.
Breivik has been ordered to wrap up by the judge but the accused says he only has three pages left and it is "essential" to explain his actions. The prosecution says he should be allowed to finish.
The judge has intervened in Breivik's testimony asking him to keep it relevant after he talks about other countries and has also asked him to speed it up.
Some more updates from Helen:
Breivik claimed he had lessened his rhetoric out of respect for the victims and survivors.
He said:
Dying for your people is not only our right but our duty. I am not scared by the prospect of being in prison all my life. I was born in a prison since I cannot...This prison is called Norway.
Breivik has been railing against marxists, multiculturalists, journalists, feminists.
I can find no record of the Times article he referred to in his evidence.
Breivik has started giving evidence so the TV cameras are switched off.
Breivik has been given permission by the judge to read the statement his defence counsel referred to yesterday. His lawyer said it would take about 30 minutes to read the statement.
The court is back in session. Lay judge Thomas Inderbro's statements on Facebook "may weaken the trust in his impartiality", says chief judge Elisabeth Arntzen.
As such he is to be dismissed from the case and replaced.
Another update from Helen in Oslo while we wait for the trial to resume:
Various colleagues and Tweeters have asked why Breivik shook hands with court staff when he arrived in court for the first day of his trial yesterday. I checked with a judicial press officer and she said there is no convention - "what he did was neither normal nor abnormal". No one had to shake his hand. But the judicial authorities have have been at pains to treat Breivik's trial as a normal trial as much as possible. Even though Breivik has admitted the killings, he is pleading not guilty, on the grounds of "necessity". And in Norway, as in Britain and beyond, the accused is innocent until proven otherwise. So to refuse to shake Breivik's hand could have been seen to be not affording him the respect given to other "normal" defendants.
Breivik once more made a closed fist salute when he arrived in court this morning, as he did on day one.
While we're waiting for the decision on the lay judge, Helen writes:
Sitting in court this week among all the journalists, lawyers, survivors and bereaved are at least two people who knew Breivik well. One, a reporter for the broadcasters NRK, went to school with him. The other, Kristoffer Nikolai Andresen, 33, is a childhood friend of the defendant who has been signed up by the Norwegian tabloid, VG, to report on the trial. I can't link to Andressen's full court report from day one because it's not online, but he is at pains to stress that he no longer considers Breivik a friend.
Helen writes:
The lay judge posted on Facebook last year that the "death penalty is the only just thing to do" in Breivik's case. This message was posted on 23 July, the day after Breivik's massacres.The lead judge, Elisabeth Arntzen, told the court that Thomas Inderbro, 33, a receptionist in his normal life, "acknowledges giving such statements". All the counsel were given the chance to object. The defence, prosecution and lawyers for the victims and bereaved all agreed that they viewed Inderbro as "legally incompetent" and should be replaced on the panel.
Under the Norwegian legal system, Breivik's case will be heard by a panel of two professional judges and three lay judges (ie members of the public).
After the issue was raised by the prosecution, all parties i.e. prosecution defence and counsel for the aggrieved persons have all agreed that the lay judge alleged to have written on their facebook page last summer that Breivik deserved to be executed (see 8.03am) should be removed from the panel.
The judge has called for a 30-minute break.
Another important update from Helen Pidd.
The English interpreters have just issued a clarification about a mistranslation yesterday of Breivik's defence. He did not invoke "self defence" but "necessity". This is allowed under section 47 of the Norwegian penal code.
Section 47 reads:
No person may be punished for any act that he has committed in order to save someone's person or property from an otherwise unavoidable danger when the circumstances justified him in regarding this danger as particularly significant in relation to the damage that might be caused by his act.
Helen Pidd writes about an overnight development:
There has been an upset overnight after a blogger claimed that one of the lay judges had written on their Facebook page last summer that Breivik deserved to be executed. When the case resumes at 8am BST, the defence are expected to ask for this judge to be removed from the panel. Luckily the court appointed a reserve judge, who was in court yesterday watching proceedings.Once that matter is resolved, the judges will decide whether Breivik is allowed to read out a half-hour written statement he has prepared while on remand in prison. He will read this, if allowed, and will then give evidence, answering questions posed by the prosecution. His testimony is scheduled to last five days
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Good morning. Welcome to live coverage of day two of the trial of Anders Behring Breivik.
The accused is due to take to the stand to give evidence today. TV cameras have been banned from broadcasting his testimony to avoid giving Breivik a direct platform to air his views. However, reporters are still allowed in and Helen Pidd will be filing updates from the courtroom.
Yesterday, Breivik pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
'Anders Behring Breivik clenches his fist in a far-right salute as he arrives in court for the second day of his murder trial in Oslo. Photograph: Stoyan Nenov/Reuters'
ReplyDeleteIt looked more like a Black Power or Communist salute to me.