'I'd do it again!' Breivik facing 3 month's jail for every death defends massacre

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Published: 17 April, 2012, 16:14
Edited: 18 April, 2012, 09:15

Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik attends the second day of his terrorism and murder trial in Oslo April 17, 2012. (Reuters / Hakon Mosvold Larsen / Pool)

TAGS: Crime, Politics, Europe, Terrorism, Law, Immigration

Norway killer has defended his massacre of 77 people, insisting he would do it again. He called his bomb-and-shooting rampage the most “spectacular” attack by a nationalist militant since World War II and demanded to be freed.
In a prepared statement Breivik lashed out at Norwegian and European governments for embracing immigration and multiculturalism.
"Is it democratic that the people of Norway have never been consulted by referendum on whether or not more foreigners should be accepted?” he asked the court.
Maintaining he acted out of “goodness not evil” to prevent a wider civil war, Breivik vowed that he “would have done it again.”
Breivik insisted that the youngsters that he killed on the Utoya Island were no innocent children. He compared them to Hitler Youth and said they were brainwashed to promote multicultural values, a very unlikely thing for the Hitler Youth to do.
He stressed he acted in self-defense to protect Norway from Muslims. He also forecast a “war between internationalists and nationalists in Europe” within a decade.
“We do not accept that we are made to be a minority in our own country,” he says. “The attacks on July 22 were preventative attacks, and I can therefore not acknowledge criminal guilt.”
“I demand that I be freed,” Breivik concluded after speaking for more than an hour.
He said the knowledge that he will be imprisoned does not scare him. “I was born into a prison, forced to watch my own people be degraded. In this prison you are not allowed to protest. This prison is called Norway,” he said.
Another reason not to fear imprisonment is the lavish Halden prison that may house Breivik, should he be sentenced. Halden embodies the guiding principles of the Norwegian penal system, that repressive prisons do not work and that treating prisoners humanely boosts their chances of reintegrating into society.
If Breivik gets the maximum penalty of 21 years (three months for every person he killed), he will “reintegrate into society” at the age of 54.
While the case has put the spotlight on Norway’s liberal criminal justice system, Former Belgian MP Lode Vanoost told RT “it is especially in cases like this that you have to stick to your principles.”
Vanoost argues that by treating Breivik “with the same rights as any Norwegian citizen…you are precisely telling him ‘you will not win.’”
While he admits “it is very difficult to accept from an emotional point of view,” Vanoost maintains “even Breivik only has one life,” and “he most likely will never be free again.”
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Cell doors are seen inside Halden prison in the far southeast of Norway. Halden jail could house Norwegian gunman Anders Behring Breivik. (Reuters / Trond A. Isaksen)

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The inside of a cell is seen at the Halden prison in the far southeast of Norway. (Reuters / Trond A. Isaksen)

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Reuters / Trond A. Isaksen

Courthouse becomes propaganda stage

Breivik promised he has “toned down his rhetoric” for the sake of survivors and victims’ families, but a lawyer for survivors and family members was compelled to interrupt his speech nonetheless. She said she has received numerous messages from her clients outraged that  Breivik is being allowed to continue his ideological rant.
Judge Arntzen repeatedly interrupted Breivik, asking him to keep his statement short, but he said that “it is critically important” for him to explain “the reason and the motive”. The prosecution has also repeatedly agreed that he should be allowed to finish reading his statement.
Five-and-a-half days have been allotted to Breivik's testimony, and many feared he will try to promote his Islamophobic ideology. As Tuesday’s statement shows, this might just be the case.
Prior to allowing Breivik to testify, Lead Judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen warned media that all cameras should be turned off during Breivik’s 30 minute statement.
This did not stop his “ideology” from getting out into the world. Moreover, attention was actually drawn to it, with international media tweeting away from the courtroom.
Breivik’s testimony was delayed on Tuesday after a citizen judge, Thomas Indreboe, was deemed unfit by the court and dismissed for his online comments. The day following the July 22 attack he has posted on his Facebook that Breivik “deserves the death penalty.”
The trial opened on Monday in Norway’s capital Oslo. The prosecution read out the indictment on terror and premeditated murder charges. Breivik remained stony-faced throughout the reading; however, when his manifesto video was shown in court he broke down crying.
Breivik killed eight people in a bombing in Oslo's government district, and later 69 in a shooting massacre at Norway’s left-leaning Labor Party's youth camp on Utoya Island outside the capital on July 22, 2011.
The key issue to be resolved during the 10-week trial is the state of Breivik’s mental health, which will determine whether he is sent to prison or to psychiatric care. If deemed mentally competent, he would face a maximum prison sentence of 21 years.