Breivik Indicted

There is no question of his guilt. There is only the question of his sanity.

And Anders Behring Breivik, a team of psychiatrists in Norway has concluded, is insane. His unprecedented murder rampage of last July was driven, in their opinion, by “paranoid psychosis” and “psychotic rage.” Based on their findings, prosecutors will seek to confine Breivik in a psychiatric hospital rather than in prison.

The verdict "disappointed" Breivik. "He wants to get sentenced to prisong, because he thinks he is sane," said his lawyer, Geir Leppestad. "He feels that he made these actions based on rational considerations." Many others agree, questioning how an insane man could have so painstakingly premeditated the terrorist onslaught that left 78 people dead.  

A barrage of gruesome details emerged at his indictment last week. They began with the two-thousand-pound fertilizer bomb that Breivik detonated outside a government building in Oslo, killing eight. One of the survivors had to have a foot- long splinter surgically removed from her head. Another had to have a leg amputated below the knee. Several others were seriously wounded in the blast.

Prosecutors then described how Breivik drove to Utoya island, the location of the Labor Party youth camp, where he opened fire at terrified crowds with two automatic weapons. “There was panic and fear of death in children, adolescents and adults during the shooting, reinforced by the fact that there were limited opportunities to flee or hide,” said prosecutor Inga Beher Engh.

Brievik, she noted, shot exactly 100 people, some of them up to eight times, 56 of them in the head. One camper drowned trying to escape. Of the 69 who died, all but seven were under the age of 25. Almost half were under 18. The youngest had just turned 14.

Breivik listened calmly as a 19-page summary of his crimes was presented to the court. He is formally charged with “acts of terrorism involving murder, with the intention of destabilizing the basic functions of society.” Although Breivik has admitted to both the bombing and shooting, he has entered a plea of “not guilty,” on the grounds that his victims were traitors abetting the Muslim colonization of Norway.     

A second psychiatric evaluation is due to be published on April 10th, less than a week before Breivik's trial is scheduled to begin. If it conflicts with the first report, prosecutors may decide to seek prison for Breivik after all. Norwegian law allows for a maximum penalty of 21 years, but convicts can be held indefinitely if they are judged to remain a threat to society.