Prison terms 'pathetic,' Norway killer says
Source: Agencies |
April 19, 2012, Thursday
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NORWAY'S prison terms are "pathetic," mass killer Anders Behring Breivik declared yesterday in an Oslo court, claiming the death penalty or a full acquittal were the "only logical outcomes" for his massacre of 77 people.
The right-wing fanatic said he doesn't fear death and that militant nationalists in Europe have a lot to learn from al-Qaida, including their methods and glorification of martyrdom.
"If I had feared death I would not have dared to carry out this operation," he said, referring to his July 22, 2011, attacks - a bombing in downtown Oslo that killed eight people and a shooting massacre at a youth camp outside the Norwegian capital that killed 69.
Breivik's comments, on the third day of his terror trial, came as he was pressed to give details on the anti-Muslim militant group he claims to belong to but which prosecutors say doesn't exist as he describes. Several unrelated groups claim part of that "Knights Templar" name.
The 33-year-old Norwegian acknowledged his supposed crusader network is "not an organization in a conventional sense" but insisted it is real.
"It is not in my interest to shed light on details that could lead to arrests," he said refusing to comment on the group's alleged other members.
The issue is of key importance in determining Breivik's sanity, and whether he's sent to prison or compulsory psychiatric care for the bomb-and-shooting massacre that shocked Norway.
If found sane, Breivik could face a maximum 21-year prison sentence or an alternate custody arrangement that would keep him locked up as long as he is considered a menace to society. If declared insane he would be committed to psychiatric care for as long as he's considered ill.
"I view 21 years in prison as a pathetic sentence," Breivik said.
Asked by the prosecutor if he would rather have received a death penalty - which does not exist in current Norwegian law - he said that made sense.
"I don't wish for it but I would have respected that decision," he said. "There are only two outcomes in this case that I had respected, that that is the death penalty or acquittal."
According to Amnesty International, the only country in Europe that still applies the death penalty is Belarus; two young men were executed there last month. Norway abolished the death penalty in peacetime in 1905 and for war crimes in 1979.
Breivik claims to have carried out the attacks on behalf of the "Knights Templar," which he described in a 1,500-page compendium, which he posted online before the attacks, as a militant nationalist group fighting a Muslim colonization of Europe.
Breivik said it exists but police just haven't done a good enough job in uncovering it.
The right-wing fanatic said he doesn't fear death and that militant nationalists in Europe have a lot to learn from al-Qaida, including their methods and glorification of martyrdom.
"If I had feared death I would not have dared to carry out this operation," he said, referring to his July 22, 2011, attacks - a bombing in downtown Oslo that killed eight people and a shooting massacre at a youth camp outside the Norwegian capital that killed 69.
Breivik's comments, on the third day of his terror trial, came as he was pressed to give details on the anti-Muslim militant group he claims to belong to but which prosecutors say doesn't exist as he describes. Several unrelated groups claim part of that "Knights Templar" name.
The 33-year-old Norwegian acknowledged his supposed crusader network is "not an organization in a conventional sense" but insisted it is real.
"It is not in my interest to shed light on details that could lead to arrests," he said refusing to comment on the group's alleged other members.
The issue is of key importance in determining Breivik's sanity, and whether he's sent to prison or compulsory psychiatric care for the bomb-and-shooting massacre that shocked Norway.
If found sane, Breivik could face a maximum 21-year prison sentence or an alternate custody arrangement that would keep him locked up as long as he is considered a menace to society. If declared insane he would be committed to psychiatric care for as long as he's considered ill.
"I view 21 years in prison as a pathetic sentence," Breivik said.
Asked by the prosecutor if he would rather have received a death penalty - which does not exist in current Norwegian law - he said that made sense.
"I don't wish for it but I would have respected that decision," he said. "There are only two outcomes in this case that I had respected, that that is the death penalty or acquittal."
According to Amnesty International, the only country in Europe that still applies the death penalty is Belarus; two young men were executed there last month. Norway abolished the death penalty in peacetime in 1905 and for war crimes in 1979.
Breivik claims to have carried out the attacks on behalf of the "Knights Templar," which he described in a 1,500-page compendium, which he posted online before the attacks, as a militant nationalist group fighting a Muslim colonization of Europe.
Breivik said it exists but police just haven't done a good enough job in uncovering it.
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