THE NORWEGIAN man behind last month’s bomb and gun attacks has been remanded in custody for a second month of solitary confinement.
Describing the detention as “sadistic torture”, Anders Behring Breivik’s second closed-door remand appearance came as survivors and relatives of the shooting victims visited the island where the massacre took place.
Breivik has confessed to shooting 69 people on July 22nd on Utoeya island, outside Oslo, where hundreds of young people were gathered for a political summer camp. Hours earlier, eight had died in a bomb blast in the Norwegian capital’s government quarter. The victims of Norway’s worst post-war atrocity ranged in age from 14 to 61.
Breivik admits carrying out the attacks but denies criminal responsibility, claiming his actions were necessary to attract attention to the “creeping Islamisation of Europe”.
“This is going to be a difficult day,” said one woman, the mother of a 16-year-old Utoeya victim, on Norwegian radio. “But it cannot possibly be any worse than the last weeks. At least we can find the spot where was last alive.”
Television images yesterday showed relatives lined up on the shore of Utoeya island, owned by the ruling Labour Party. In small groups, they were led around the small island by police officers and shown where their loved one’s bodies were found.
“This is a very important and emotional day for the families,” said Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen, Norwegian health minister.
Yesterday’s visit came days after Breivik was sighted on the island apparently explaining to police how he carried out his 90-minute shooting spree, armed with a machine gun and dressed as a police officer.
"He was not emotionally unmoved but expressed no remorse," an unnamed investigator who accompanied him told the VGtabloid.
Breivik was arrested on the island and remanded in custody for eight weeks.
Yesterday’s ruling means the 32-year-old will, for another month, have no access to telephone, media, letters or contact with anyone but his defence lawyer, Geir Lippestad.
“He’s complained that he’s lost his spark,” said Mr Lippestad.
A memorial service will be held tomorrow in an Oslo stadium to mark the first month anniversary of the tragedy.
Norwegian media reported Breivik had requested to attend yesterday’s remand hearing in a tuxedo.
The Oslo court turned down the request as “unnecessarily provocative”. The judge rejected a request from relatives of the dead to attend the closed-door hearing.
If found guilty on terrorism charges, Breivik will spend 21 years behind bars, with an option for a longer term if he is considered a continued danger to the public.
