Norwegian murderer Breivik had planned even more sweeping attack
| Oslo
Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik was pressed by prosecutors today to shed light on the five years鈥� leading up to last summer鈥檚 twin terror attacks in an attempt to pinpoint the start of his violent planning phase.
Brevik admitted during his third day of testimony that he first started contemplating taking violent action聽when he was 18 or 19, before he came in contact with anti-Muslim group Knights Templar in London in 2002, and that the Labor party youth camp at Ut酶ya island was not his original target.
He told prosecutors he first considered attacking Muslims, but changed his targets to 鈥減olitical elites鈥� he considered responsible for Muslim immigration in 2006, after the Benjamin Hermansen case, in which neo-Nazis killed a young Norwegian-Ghanaian boy in Oslo in 2001.听鈥淚t鈥檚 not the fault of Muslims that they were invited [to immigrate],鈥� said Breivik. 鈥淭hey are not to blame.鈥�
Coincidentally, the convicted murderer in that case was defended by Breivik鈥檚 current defense attorney, Geir Lippestad.
Breivik has blamed the Labor party for promoting multiculturalism and the Islamic colonization of Europe as the basis for his July 2011 bomb attack on government buildings in Oslo and a shooting rampage at the Labor party summer youth camp at the island of Ut酶ya.
Breivik said that he originally considered deploying car bombs against three separate targets 鈥撀爐he main Oslo government building, the Norwegian Royal Castle, and Labor party headquarters 鈥� but only ended up attacking the first聽because he could not produce enough explosives and risked killing too many 鈥渋nnocents.鈥� He had also considered media targets, including Norwegian broadcaster NRK headquarters, newspaper Aftenposten, and the journalist conference SKUP.
鈥淣orwegian press bears the largest part of the responsibility, maybe even more so than the Labor party, for the situation we are in now,鈥� said Breivik.
He said his original plan was to arrive at Ut酶ya earlier that day to decapitate former Labor prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland聽with a bayonette on his rifle and film it, execute Labor party youth leader Eskil Pedersen, and kill all on the island that day by shooting and scaring the Labor youth to swim and drown.
The prosecutors attempted to portray Breivik as a cash-strapped and video game-obsessed young man living with his mother, during which time he started writing his manifesto 鈥�2083: A European Declaration of Independence鈥� and planning his attack.
Svein Holden, Oslo public prosecutor, presented evidence detailing about 16 hours per day of game time on World of Warcraft in 2006 and 2007 and 500 hours from November 2010 to February 2011, as well as an average of 10 hours per day for 16 months on the war simulation game Call of Duty beginning in January 2010.
But Breivik said it was his decision to take a 鈥渟abbatical鈥� from work and play World of Warcraft for one year in anticipation of his 鈥渟uicide action鈥� so that he would 鈥渉ave no regrets.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 mere entertainment,鈥� said Breivik. 鈥淚t has nothing to do with July 22. Some like to sail, some like to play golf. Some like to play World of Warcraft.鈥�
He also defended prosecution鈥檚 questions regarding his naming of his rifle 鈥淕ungnir鈥� after Norse mythological god Odin鈥檚 magic spear and his Glock 鈥淢jolner,鈥� the name of Norse god Thor鈥檚 hammer.听
鈥淭he way you [Holden] try to describe it is as bizarre and insane, but it is a great [Norse] tradition,鈥� said Breivik, adding that many warriors in the past had given names to their weapons.
The case against Breivik hinges on determining whether he is sane after two psychiatric reports came to opposite conclusions, the first saying he was paranoid schizophrenic and the second finding him not psychotic.听
Breivik claims he is sane and wants to be considered such so that his ideology 鈥渨ould stand stronger." Based on the initial conclusion of paranoid schizophrenia, the prosecution is seeking compulsory mental care, although there is a possibility of choosing later in the trial to seek a criminal punishment of up to 21 years.
Breivik has pleaded not guilty, saying his actions were a 鈥減reventive attack鈥� against the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Norwegians by Muslims.
