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Anders Behring Breivik trial, day five - Friday 20 April

April 20, 2012, 7:32 am
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• Observers in tears as Breivik describes Utøya massacre
• Accused insists he is not racist
• Denies any contact with English Defence League
• Says bomb 'failure' prompted him to go to Utøya

Read a summary of today's proceedings

3.32pm: Here's a summary of today's proceedings.

• A detailed, graphic account given by Anders Behring Breivik of his killing spree on the island of Utøya, which left 69 people dead on 22 July last year, provoked the most emotional scenes of the trial so far. Many listened with tears in their eyes, with lawyers and journalists also visibly moved. Many Norwegians came down to the court building to leave flowers. Breivik described shooting teenagers who were paralysed with fear and taking shots at others "playing dead" on the floor when he could tell they were still alive.

• The defendant told the court he would not have gone to Utøya if the bomb attack on the government quarter had caused the building to collapse. Breivik claimed that if he had perceived the bombing to be a success, he would have driven to the police station and surrendered. The bomb killed eight people.

• Breivik denied having contact with the English Defence League (EDL), the anti-Islamist network formed in Britain in 2009. He admitted he had posted on internet forums "linked to the EDL" and had traded messages with an EDL member on one such website. But he insisted: "I have never had contact with the English Defence League." Previously, Breivik has written of having strong links with the EDL, saying he had met its leaders and had 600 EDL members as Facebook friends. Some EDL sources said Breivik had met some of its leaders but the leaders themselves and the party deny this.

• The accused described himself as a "nice person, sympathetic" who was "quite normal up until 2006 when I started training". He also denied that he was racist, insisting he was fighting against anti-European racism carried out by "the Norwegian media and the Marxist elites". He said: "I am not a racist. I am an anti-racist."

• Breivik said he had chosen not to empathise with the those whose lives he had ruined as a self-preservation technique. He compared his preparation with that of soldiers going to war. Asked how he was able to talk about the atrocities in such an impassive manner, Breivik said he had learned to rely on "technical, de-emotionalised language" — "if I was going to use normalised language it would not have been possible" to go through police interviews and the trial.

3.10pm: The Guardian's Helen Pidd, in court, in Oslo, describes Breivik's testimony and the impact it had:


Before Breivik began his account of what happened on Utoya, he warned the courtroom that people should consider leaving because much of what he was about to say was "horrendous". He wasn't wrong. In 90 minutes of uninterrupted testimony, the 33-year-old described the island massacre from the moment he tricked his way on to the ferry over, dressed as a policeman, to when he was finally arrested.

Few people left the courtroom as he gave evidence, but there were tears in the eyes of many listening to his account. Lawyers bit their lips. The parents of some of the children killed held each other tight. Experienced journalists said they were finding it difficult to keep it together and that they had never heard anything as terrible. Outside, there were reports that many Norwegians had come spontaneously down to the court building to leave flowers.

The 33-year-old described shooting teenagers who were paralysed with fear, taking shots at others "playing dead" on the floor when he could tell they were still alive. With dozens already dead, he stalked the island in search of "the sort of places I would hide" and shot dead children he spotted trying to make themselves invisible, pressing themselves up against a cliff.

3.08pm: The court has now adjourned for the day after terrible, harrowing testimony from Breivik in which he gave a detailed, graphic account of his killing spree on Utøya, which left 69 people dead.

2.59pm: Breivik is now being questioned by the prosecution. How must the bereaved relatives and survivors feel when they hear the man responsible describe events on Utøya as horrible, as he denies laughing during his killing spree?

2.50pm: Freelance journalist Trygve Sorvaag describes Breivik's demeanour, which must have made his description of the Utøya massacre even harder for survivors and bereaved relatives to bear.

2.38pm: The harrowing details of Breivik's killing spree on Utøya have provoked an outpouring of emotion outside the court as well as inside.

2.30pm: Now Breivik recalls how he was arrested.

2.26pm: The defendant says he shot two more people and then spared a terrified young boy.

2.23pm: Breivik says that after he shot some more people he thought of taking his own life.

2.19pm: The defendant says that after the Pump House he tried to call the police again but could not get through.

2.14pm: The awful details continue. Breivik talks about shooting at a group of four or five people from a distance He thinks he killed two of them.

He then went to the Pump House and tricked people by asking "Have you seen him?" One of the people there who he killed pleaded to be spared.

2.03pm: Breivik says he saw some boats helping Labour youth members flee and shot towards them. He thinks he hit two people. It was at this point that he called the police.

2.00pm: The court is back in session. Please do be warned that there is likely to be more upsetting content as Breivik continues his description of the massacre he committed on Utøya.

1.51pm: Unsurprisingly, there has been an emotional response to Breivik's horrific description of his killing spree on Utøya.

1.31pm: After that harrowing session, the court has adjourned for a break.

1.30pm: Breivik continues with the awful detail of his killing spree. Warning: once again, the tweets below contain descriptions people may find upsetting.

1.20pm: Breivik is describing in horrifying detail how he moved to the cafeteria next. Warning: the tweets below contain descriptions people may find upsetting.

1.13pm: Breivik chillingly describes how he shot the off-duty police guard, Trond Berntsen, 51, and then "Mother Utøya", Monica Bosei, 45, who had organised the Labour youth camp for 20 years.

1.06pm: He moves on to describing how he encountered an off-duty police guard on the island.

12.58pm: The defendant begins to chronologically go through the events leading up to the massacre on Utøya.

12.48pm: The discussion moves on to Utøya and Breivik warns it will be "horrendous".

12.47pm: The accused says that he has continued to meditate in jail.

12.42pm: Breivik tells the psychiatrists that his meditation dulls all of his emotions.

12.33pm: The accused is being questioned by the forensic psychiatrists now.

The defendant has used percentages a lot to describe how he perceived his chances of "success" in his attacks and claimed the bomb in the government quarter of Oslo was 30% less effective because the parking spot he intended for it was taken. Breveik also talked of being able to accept 2% of people in Norway not being "ethnically pure Norwegians".

12.23pm: Breivik is told about the ages of those he killed on Utøya and is challenged as to whether it was a "manly mission".

12.19pm: This morning Breivik claimed he had not had contact with the English Defence League (EDL) but that is in contrast to previous claims made on both sides. From the Daily Telegraph, in July, last year:

Daryl Hobson, who organises EDL demonstrations, said Breivik, who told police there were "two more cells" ready to follow him, had met members of the group ...

Breivik wrote of having strong links with the EDL, saying he had met its leaders and had 600 EDL members as Facebook friends.

Mr Hobson said in an online posting that: "He had about 150 EDL on his list … bar one or two doubt the rest of us ever met him, altho [sic] he did come over for one of our demo [sic] in 2010 … but what he did was wrong. RIP to all who died as a result of his actions."

Another senior member of the EDL, who spoke to The Daily Telegraph on condition of anonymity, said he understood Breivik had met EDL leaders when he came to Britain to hear Wilders speak in London last year ...

The source said Breivik began making friend requests with EDL members on Facebook in 2009 and knew "three or four" people in the group.

Breivik told his Facebook friends he would be coming to London for Wilders's visit. "I remember he [Breivik] was on Facebook saying that he felt he had to come over. Maybe he thought it was the only chance he'd get to come to a big demo," said the source.

"Geert Wilders was a high-profile anti-Islamic politician, coming to Britain. Every­one was raving about it.

"He [Breivik] was obviously in contact with some of us. If this bloke was coming all the way from Norway the leadership would have wanted to meet him."

The EDL leader Stephen Lennon denied meeting Breivik and the EDL said on its webiste that it had no links to him.

12.08pm: The court is back in session and Breivik is asked what he did to avoid the need for violence. He responds "everything"; violence was the last resort, he claims.

11.56am: The afternoon session is due to begin at 12pm BST.

Helen Pidd, in Oslo, has filed a news story on this morning's proceedings. I'll post the link when it's up on the Guardian website but in the meantime here's an extract:

Anders Behring Breivik has denied having contact with the English Defence League (EDL), the anti-Islamist network formed in Britain in 2009.

Giving evidence in the fifth day of his ten-week trial for killing 77 people in Norway last year, the 33-year-old admitted he had posted on internet forums "linked to the EDL" and had traded messages with an EDL member on one such website. But he insisted: "I have never had contact with the English Defence League."

He told the court that the EDL was fundamentally different from the Knights Templar (KT), the anti-immigration network of "militant nationalists" to which he professes to belong. He said: "The EDL is an anti-violent organisation supporting democracy ...and they have nothing to do with KT at all. You cannot even compare them."

Questioned by his own lawyers as to how he was able to carry out the attacks which killed 77 in Norway last summer, Breivik described a "meditation" technique he had developed which mixed "Christian prayer" and Japanese "Bushido warrior codex" practised by Samurai fighters.

He insisted on Friday he was a "nice person" who was capable of empathising with those whose lives he had ruined, but that he had chosen not to as a self-preservation technique. "In many ways it is a protection mechanism," he said. "First of all, if you are going to be capable of executing such a bloody and horrendous operation you need to work on your mind, your psyche for years. We have seen from military traditions you cannot send an unprepared person into war."

11.10am: I mentioned earlier that Norwegian papers have not put Breivik on their front pages today (see 8.05am). Here is an interesting front page from today's Morgenbladet (a Norwegian weekly). It shows a picture of Breivik but his face has been removed and replaced by the words "Se på meg" (Look at me). (Thanks to Eivind Krohg @Krohg on Twitter for sending through the link).

11.02am: The court has adjourned for lunch for one hour.

10.55am: The accused outlines the Norwegian culture he wants to "protect", citing even door handles.

10.52am: Breivik has already described women as lacking comprehension and "backbone" and crticised the culture he says is turning boys into girls. Now he challenges the knowledge of a female lawyer.

10.42am: Breivik says he has never had contact with the English Defence League.

10.31am: Breivik insists that he is sane.

10.26am: The accused is now being asked by the lawyers for the bereaved/victims about his capacity for empathy and says he chooses not to feel it because he would break down if forced to truly confront the suffering he has inflicted.

10.22am: Breivik says that he partied a lot from 2010 to 2011. Earlier, in the trial he was keen to reject perceptions of himself as a loner, saying he had lots of friends but stopped seeing them to concentrate on his "operation". But today he says he partied "until the end".

10.18am: The accused is asked about his relationship with his family and says it is good.

10.15am: Breivik is talking about the day of the attack and how it was only the bomb's "failure" (it killed eight people but the accused said yesterday that he wanted to slay a minimum of 12 and for the government building to collapse) that made him take the decision to go to Utøya.

10.03am: Breivik is asked about how he gained his bomb-making expertise without being discovered.

9.59am: After lauding al-Qaida for its members' willingness to "embrace" martyrdom, Breveik reveals how he overcame his own fear of death. His reference to samurai fits with his own perception of himself as some kind of heroic warrior.

9.54am: Proceedings are underway once more, with Breivik being questioned by his defence counsel about al-Qaida, who the accused has referred to as "methodological role models" during the trial.

9.50am: Helen Pidd, in court in Oslo, has sent through this summary of today's opening session:


The Breivik who is giving evidence today on the fifth day of his ten-week trial is probably the most confident and fluent we have seen him all week. Whether or not he is "criminally insane" in the eyes of the court, there is no doubt that he planned every aspect of his attacks in cold, clinical detail - and he seems to be enjoying demonstrating the extent of his preparations and knowledge

Nothing was left to chance. He has told the court today how he carried out test blasts 2km from his farm during a thunder storm so as not to arouse suspicion; how he learned an unusual bomb making technique from Andreas Baader from the Red Army Action. Yesterday we heard how he made a sign to put in the window of the hire car where he planted the bomb warning of "sewage works" to explain the sulphuric smell. He also says he consulted 600 different bomb making manuals on the internet but in the end concocted his own "recipe".

Earlier in the week, Breivik was evasive and truculent in the witness box, refusing to answer more than 150 questions related to the Knights Templar anti-Islamic network he claims to be a part of. The prosecution do not believe such a group exists and say that Breivik was alone terrorist, an assertion Breivik repeatedly denies. But today, admitting he alone worked out how to build a deadly bomb, he is animated, eloquent, giving expansive answers to questions put to him by his defence team.

We know already that the 33-year-old is rather sensitive about being ahigh school drop-out - he has repeatedly stressed that though he does not have a school leaving certificate, he has carried out "15,000"hours of independent study. Today he is revelling in the opportunity to show just how much knowledge he had learned about explosives in order to carry out the Oslo bomb attack which left eight dead and dozens more seriously injured.

9.31am: The court has adjourned for a 20-minute break.

During the recess, it is well worth reading this online Q&A with a survivor of the Utøya massacre on Reddit. It is fascinating reading, terrifying, tragic and moving but also heartwarming in the survivor's response to being caught up in such an unimaginable atrocity.

It begins:

I am a 17-years-old, and a Utøya survivor. I was at the closest 20m away from Anders Behring Breivik. After the shooting started I was on the island for two hours and could have died approximately six times in those two hours. I'm not doing so bad, I have good days and bad days but I'm alive. I just wanted to get things off my chest ...I just wanted people to know that what ever happens, there is always a way to get through though things! And I hope everyone is doing well! : )

And here are a couple of the answers given:


Q How has your life changed since the incident? Do you consider yourself a different person because of this experience?

A Of course did it changed me, I've become a stronger human being. It has also made me more confident and more prescient when it comes to believing in what you stand for. I am not a person who is easily knocked down.

Q This may be a bit personal, but if you had the opportunity to confront Breivik is there anything you wish you could tell him? Also, thank you to you and your fellow Norwegians for the civil way everyone has responded. It's an attitude I wish more people in my country would emulate.

A That I get why he did it, but that I think that going after children, I consider myself still a child, it's way beyond every other choice he could have chosen to prove his point.

9.14am: After repeating his assertion yesterday that the bomb was less effective than he had hoped (he says 30% less effective) because his intended parking spot was taken, Breivik is now being asked by his defence counsel about Utøya.

9.05am: Helen Pidd, in the courtroom, says Breivik seems to relish discussing construction of the bomb.

8.59am: Breivik continues to talk about how he created the bomb, saying he did not follow instructions to the letter but experimented after studying chemistry.

8.51am: The defence moves on to ask Breivik about his detailed knowledge of bomb-making, which was evident in court yesterday when he described the manufacture of the device that killed eight people in the government quarter on 22 July (at one point there was discussion in court about whether he was going in to too much detail).

8.45am: Breivik's defence counsel Geir Lippestad is now questioning the accused.

8.39am: Breivik is asked whether he can feel sadness.

8.38am: The accused is being asked about his detached manner yesterday, when he told the court that he wanted everyone on Utøya to die and that he planned to behead former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, posting the footage on the internet.

He says he is a "nice person" according to some but that he trained himself as soldiers are trained for warfare.

8.23am: Breivik talks about the difficulty of getting his views aired in the Norwegian media.

8.21am: Breivik also criticises cultural marxists, accusing them of turning boys into girls.

Earlier in the trial, he suggested that most women don't have the comprehension or "backbone" to be a "revolutionary activist" like himself.

8.18am: Now the accused is lining up an array of targets to blame for "anti-European racism". Many of them he has mentioned before in court - journalists, authorities, schools - but he also mentions writers of children's songs.

8.14am: Breivik is insisting he is not a racist and seems to be employing the defence often employed by racists who do not want to admit the fact - that he has had "minority" friends.

8.09am: Proceedings have begun with the prosecution trying to establish Breivik's capability to experience empathy.

8.05am: Interestingly, Norwegian newspapers did not put Breivik on the front page of today's editions, journalists report.

7.59am: Good morning. Welcome to live coverage of day five of the trial of Anders Behring Breivik.

TV cameras continue to be barred from proceedings during Breivik's testimony, to avoid giving him a direct platform for his views, but we'll bring you updates from the journalists inside the court including the Guardian's Helen Pidd.

Yesterday's proceedings were the most disturbing so far as the accused told the court that his "primary target" in last year's terrorist attacks was former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, whom he planned to behead, posting the footage on the internet – and that he anticipated all 564 people on Utøya would die in his "operation".

You can read yesterday's blog here.

And here is a link to the news story covering yesterday's proceedings.

Breivik's defence team have warned survivors and beraeaved relatives that today is likely to be difficult for them as focus will be on the killing spree on Utøya.

Haroon Siddique
Helen Pidd

guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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