Norway killer 'insane' says his lawyer
Lippestad said Behring Breivik "has a view on reality that is very, very
difficult to explain."
Last Modified: 26 Jul 2011 15:23
Geir Lippestad, lawyer of Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik, said his client is
in all likelihood "insane" [Reuters]
The lawyer for the gunman behind last week's attacks in Norway that killed at
least 76 people has said his client appears to be insane.
"This whole case indicated that he is insane," Geir Lippestad told journalists
on Tuesday about Anders Behring Breivik, who has claimed responsibility for
Friday's bomb attack on the Oslo government and subsequent shooting spree on a
nearby island.
The lawyer said it was too early to say if Breivik would plead insanity at his
trial, adding that his client might oppose this as he felt that only he
"understands the truth".
Lippestad said Breivik had stated he belonged to an anti-Islam network that has
two cells in Norway and more abroad.
But police believe Breivik probably acted alone in staging his bloody assaults.
"He hates all Western ideas and the values of democracy ...he expects that this
is the start of a war that will last 60 years. He looks upon himself as a
warrior. He starts this war and takes some kind of pride in that," Lippestad
said.
Lippestad, a member of the Labour party whose youth wing was the target of
shooting rampage on an idyllic island, said he would quit if Breivik did not
agree to psychological tests.
"He has a view of reality that none of the rest of us share," Lippestad said.
He was previously best known for defending a right-winger who in 2002 got 17
years in prison for the racially motivated murder of Benjamin Hermansen, 15,
whose father was African.
Justice Minister Knut Storberget deflected criticism that police had reacted
too slowly to the shooting massacre, hailing as "fantastic" their work after
the attacks.
"It is very important that we have an open and critical approach...but there is
a time for everything," Storberget told reporters after talks with Oslo's
police chief.
Response time
An armed SWAT team took more than an hour to reach Utoeya island, where Breivik
was coolly shooting terrified youngsters at a Labour Party youth camp. He
killed 68 there and eight in an earlier bombing of Oslo's government district.
Storberget also denied police had ignored threats posed by right-wing zealots
in Norway, saying: "I reject suggestions that we have not had the far-right
under the microscope."
Many Norwegians seem to agree the police do not deserve opprobrium for their
response. At a march of more than 100,000 in Oslo on Monday night, people
applauded rescue workers.
Police defended themselves from suggestions that some alarm bells should have
rung about Breivik. The PST security police say Breivik's name appeared only
once, on an Interpol list of 50 to 60 Norwegians, after he paid 120 crowns
($22) to a Polish chemicals firm on a watch list. They found no reason to react.
Researchers doubt Breivik's claim that he is part of a wider far-right network
of anti-Islam "crusaders", seeing it as bragging by a psychopathic fantasist
who has written that exaggeration is a way to sow confusion among investigators.
'Not psychotic'
Yngve Ystad, a Norwegian forensic psychiatrist and adviser to the police, said
it was unlikely that Breivik would be found to be psychotic and thus
unaccountable for his actions, or would even be able to claim diminished
responsibility.
"He had planned the crime and he was not in that way disturbed by psychotic or
delusional ideas because this has been going on for a very long time and,
according to the press, he has not been disturbed or suffered severe
disturbances."
Prosecutors will consider whether Breivik's acts fall under a 2008 law on
crimes against humanity, said Staale Eskeland, professor of criminal law at
Oslo University.
"To kill a group of civilians systematically is the basic criteria" for charges
of crimes against humanity, he said, adding that the maximum penalty for this
offence was 30 years in jail, rather than 21 years under the anti-terrorism law.
In both cases the sentence can be extended for up to five years at a time if
there is risk of repeat offences.
So far Breivik has been charged with "destabilising or destroying basic
functions of society" and "creating serious fear in the population".
Police attorney Christian Hatlo has said Breivik expects to spend the rest of
his life in jail.
In signs that police are sceptical that Breivik was part of a wider network,
border controls imposed on July 22 were lifted late on Monday.
Norway has not asked other countries to launch probes, nor has it raised the
threat level for terrorism.
Even the final entry in Breivik's own 1,500 page manifesto said on July 22:
"The old saying: 'if you want something done, then do it yourself' is as
relevant now as it was then."
"Intuitively, it feels like he is alone when you read the document. It's like
he's lost in this made-up world and can't distinguish between fantasy and
reality," Magnus Ranstorp, Research Director at the Centre for Asymmetric
Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defence College, said.
"They (mass killers) are usually alone," he said.
Ragnhild Bjoernebekk, a researcher at Norway's police school, said Breivik was
disconnected from his victims.
"He has no empathy, he is indifferent to the people he kills, he has no
conscience and no remorse."
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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