NORWAY: Woman who felt effects of bomb attack in Norway which, combined with shooting spree, left 77 people dead, reflects on how her country has changed / Trial of Anders Behring Breivik, accused of the killings, starts on April 16

Record ID: 351957

  • Title: NORWAY: Woman who felt effects of bomb attack in Norway which, combined with shooting spree, left 77 people dead, reflects on how her country has changed / Trial of Anders Behring Breivik, accused of the killings, starts on April 16
  • Date: 15th April 2012
  • Summary: CLOSE UP OF MAGAZINE COVER
  • Embargoed: 30th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Norway, Norway
  • Country: Norway
  • Topics: Crime,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA6ZD0FFHVFE5939Y8F2QAH7G1Z
  • Story Text: Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people last summer in attacks he saw as punishing pro-immigration "traitors".
    Breivik, 33, has admitted detonating a bomb that killed eight people at government headquarters in Oslo on July 22, then massacring 69 people with gunfire at a Labour Party summer camp. Most of the summer camp victims were teenagers.
    His trial on terror and murder charges is scheduled to start in Oslo on Monday (April 16).
    A woman from Oslo said the attacks had destroyed a feeling of safety.
    "We got somehow drawn out of our illusion of safety. We felt so secure and on the sideline of everything terrible that is going on around the world. But then suddenly we realised that it can very well happen to us as well. Not the least thing that was terrifying was to realise that not only was this terror, as we all understood, but that it was terror committed by one of our own. Someone that had grown up with us, someone that I can have been next to here in the park," Judelka said.
    The Breivik case taught Norwegians that their state might come under attack not from outside aggressors, but from individuals within the country; Professor Bernt Aardal agreed.
    "It was an attack on the Norwegian authority, the Norwegian system, the Norwegian establishment. And I think that has been more important for people that, you know, we have to defend the Norwegian way of life. And we have to defend our democracy. And to a large extent that has been more important afterwards you know that we have to defend the country against, not an outside aggressor, but one individual aggressor among us," the political scientist said.
    Breivik's attorney, Geir Lippestad, has said he would call political experts and historians to testify that Breivik's world view is shared by others. He would also call a radical Islamist cleric who holds a similar view that European and Islamic culture are irreconcilable.
    Aardal said Breivik did not convince the public that immigration should be more tightly controlled. On the contrary, this position has become harder to defend after his attacks.
    "If Breivik had hoped to influence the debate on immigration in a more negative way, he has not succeeded. Because it has been more difficult to defend a harsh immigration policy. And that has actually also been directed against the Labour Party. As a governing party, a major governing party, they have been responsible for the relatively strict immigration policy in Norway."
    Aardal said it was understandable that some felt hatred and wanted to take revenge on Breivik after the killings. However, he thinks Norwegians are determined to uphold democracy and the state of law in their country.
    "When people are saying now - 'What about his punishment? He should have been shot at Utoya! He should have been killed' - or whatever. That we hear also from outside Norway. But then the reaction, also from the young, youth organisation members, it is: remember this is a state of law. We have principles of dealing with crimes. We have rules that we have to follow. Because if we don't do that, he has succeeded in destroying our democracy."
    Breivik's sentence will depend on a panel of judges' decision whether he is sane or not.
    A psychiatric team said on Tuesday (April 10) Breivik was sane when he carried out the attacks, contradicting a prior report that found him psychotic.
    If he is found guilty and the judges side with the latest psychiatric report, Breivik could face 21 years in prison with the potential for unlimited extensions to prevent him from repeating his crimes.
    If Breivik is ruled psychotic he could face an indefinite period of psychiatric care in a locked facility.
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