Anders Behring Breivik held for further eight weeks

Norway’s self-confessed mass murderer to remain in solitary confinement for four of eight weeks while indictment is prepared The confessed mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has been ordered to remain in custody for a further eight weeks during a closed court hearing, according to the judge The 32-year-old has confessed to setting off a bomb in Oslo and shooting dead 69 at an island youth camp outside the city , killing 77 people in total on 22 July. Oslo district court on Monday approved a police request to keep Breivik in custody on terror charges for another eight weeks – four of them in solitary confinement – as prosecutors prepare a formal indictment. The judge, Anne Margrethe Lund, said she stopped Breivik “on a few occasions” when he tried to make statements during the hearing, his third since being arrested following the murders on Utøya island and in Oslo. “He wanted to communicate something to the court. It wasn’t relevant for the decision that was to be made today and therefore he wasn’t allowed to say anything further,” Lund told reporters after the hearing. Breivik’s lawyer, Geir Lippestad, also told reporters that his client tried to address the court but Lippestad would not reveal the details, citing a gagging order. The ruling means that Breivik will remain in custody until 14 November, when a new detention hearing will be held. However, police can only hold him in isolation until 17 October because decisions on solitary confinement must be reviewed every four weeks. The district court initially ordered an open hearing, but a higher court overruled that decision after an appeal by police. Some of the survivors, more than 600 of them, were represented by lawyers at that hearing. Breivik has confessed to the attacks but denies criminal guilt. He claims to be in a state of war and believes the murders were necessary to save Norway and Europe from being overrun by Muslim immigrants. In a 1,500-page manifesto posted online before the killings he called for a revolution to purge Europe of Muslims and for politicians who have embraced multiculturalism to be punished. Lippestad said his client has not expressed any remorse about his actions. Anders Behring Breivik Global terrorism Norway Europe guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 19, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.