Defence argues for Breivik's sanity

22 Jun 2012, 8:12 pm   -   Source: AAP

The trial of Anders Behring Breivik has entered its last day, with the defence trying to prove his killing of 77 people last July was not an act of insanity.

The trial of Anders Behring Breivik entered its last day on Friday, with the defence trying to prove his killing of 77 people in twin attacks last July was not an act of insanity.

Breivik's main lawyer Geir Lippestad launched into his closing arguments at the Oslo district court 11 months to the day after Breivik's July 22 attacks, countering a call from prosecutors for the 33-year-old right-wing extremist to be locked up in a psychiatric ward instead of prison.

While prosecutors argued that Breivik's sanity had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt and that his attacks may have been sparked by delusions, Lippestad insisted his client was a political extremist.

His actions were "based on extremism," not psychotic delusions or an uncontrollable urge to violence, Lippestad insisted.

Even though there is no chance Breivik will be set free, the defence lawyer must also formally make the request since Breivik has pleaded not guilty, despite having confessed to carrying out the murderous twin attacks on July 22.

That day, Breivik first set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people, before travelling to Utoeya island, northwest of the capital. There, he spent more than an hour methodically shooting and killing another 69 people, mostly teenagers.

The victims, the youngest of whom had just celebrated her 14th birthday, had been attending a summer camp hosted by the governing Labour Party's youth organisation.

Breivik has evoked the "principle of necessity", claiming his attacks were "cruel but necessary" to protect Norway against a "Muslim invasion".

With no illusion of getting his client off, Lippestad said he would mainly focus on the tricky question of Breivik's sanity, which has been the main focus of his 10-week trial, which began on April 16.

Psychiatric evaluations of Breivik's mental health have sharply contradicted each other, with two court-appointed expert teams reaching diametrically opposed conclusions.

Breivik himself is intent on proving his sanity even though it will mean a lengthy prison term. He wants to establish that his far-right, Islamophobic ideology is not just the rantings of a lunatic.

Court-ordered psychiatric confinement would be "a fate worse than death," he has said. Last month vowed to the court that he would not appeal a certain guilty verdict if he was found to sane and sentenced to prison.

On Thursday however, the prosecution called on the five judges to send him to a closed psychiatric ward, arguing his sanity had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

"Our request is that he be obliged to undergo psychiatric treatment" in a closed unit, prosecutor Svein Holden said, wrapping up the prosecution's three-hour closing arguments.

"In our opinion, it would be worse to sentence someone who is psychotic to prison than to send someone who is not psychotic to psychiatric care," he said.

Lippestad countered Friday that "it is just as bad to treat a healthy individual (in a psychiatric ward) as to not treat someone who is ill."

If found criminally sane, Breivik should be sentenced to Norway's harshest penalty: 21 years in prison, with the possibility of extending the sentence for as long as he is considered a danger to society, prosecutors said.

The judges will rule on the question of whether Breivik is criminally sane or not when they hand down their verdict, which is expected on either July 20 or August 24.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube