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Norway attacks: Anders Behring Breivik insane - lawyer

Norway attacks: Anders Behring Breivik insane - lawyer

Lawyer Geir Lippestad: ''This whole case has indicated that he is insane''

The lawyer defending Anders Behring Breivik, who admits carrying out Friday's mass killings in Norway, says his client is probably insane.

However he added it was too early to say if Mr Breivik would plead insanity.

The bombing in Oslo and shooting spree on a nearby island killed 76 people. Mr Breivik is facing terrorism charges.

Police are considering also charging him with crimes against humanity, which carry a possible 30-year sentence, a prosecutor has said.

Mr Breivik's lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told reporters: "This whole case indicated that he is insane."

He said his client believed that he was in a war and that he would be vindicated in 60 years' time.

A medical evaluation would be carried out to establish his psychiatric condition, Mr Lippestad added.

He said Mr Breivik had told him he was part of an anti-Islam network that had two cells in Norway and several more abroad.

Anders Behring Breivik

Anders Behring Breivik leaves court, 25 July
  • Describes himself as a Christian and conservative on Facebook page attributed to him
  • Grew up in Oslo
  • Set up farm through which he was able to buy fertiliser, which may have been used to make a bomb

Norwegian police and researchers have cast doubt on such claims, but said they were investigating them.

Mr Lippestad also said that his client had used "some kind of drugs" before the crime.

'Fantastic' police work

Mr Breivik, a right-wing Christian extremist, appeared in court on Monday to face charges of destabilising vital functions of society, including government, and causing serious fear in the population.

He accepted responsibility for the attacks but denied the terrorism charges.

Prosecutor Christian Hatlo told Aftenpostenthat a new charge of crimes against humanity, which could be brought under a 2008 law, was "a possibility".

Police spokesman Sturla Henreiksboe told AFP news agency: "Police have so far cited... the law on terrorism but seeking other charges has not been excluded."

Earlier Mr Hatlo said Mr Breivik claimed he had worked in a cell, or group, and that there were two other cells working with him.

Although police sources say other groups are unlikely, Mr Hatlo said he "cannot completely, and I stress completely, rule out that others were involved in what happened".

He said his operation had not been aimed at killing as many people as possible but that he wanted to create the greatest loss possible to Norway's governing Labour Party, which he accused of failing the country on immigration.

Norway's Justice Minister Knut Storberget praises the "fantastic" work of the police

The bomb in Oslo targeted buildings connected to the Labour government, and the youth camp on Utoeya island that was attacked was also run by the party.

At a press conference in Oslo, the police said they would start to formally release the names of the victims on their website at 1800 local time (1600 GMT).

Norwegian Justice Minister Knut Storberget has praised the "fantastic" work done by police.

"I had the opportunity to thank police in Oslo and other districts," he told reporters after talks with Oslo's police chief.

The praise comes despite criticism in the media that officers were slow to respond to the shooting on Utoeya island, where most of the victims died.

It was an hour-and-a-half before an armed unit could reach the island from Oslo.

"It is very important that we have an open and critical approach," Mr Storberget said, "but there is a time for everything."

Mr Breivik has been remanded in custody for eight weeks, the first four in full isolation.

On Monday up to 250,000 people poured on to the streets of the capital, many of them holding flowers in memory of the eight people killed in the Oslo blast and the 68 who died at the youth camp on Utoeya.

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