Anders Behring Breivik trial nears end with closing arguments

The Oslo district court then ordered a second opinion which contradicted the
first one, finding him sane, as did a number of other psychiatrists who
observed Breivik in detention and in court.

These experts all agreed that Breivik is not suffering from a psychosis, but
rather some form of personality disorder – which would mean he could be
sentenced to prison.

Breivik wants to be officially declared sane in order to ensure that his
Islamophobic ideology is not written off as the ravings of a lunatic, and
has said court-ordered psychiatric confinement would be “a fate worse
than death.”

“It’s an extremely difficult situation, there’s no doubt about it,”
Norway’s director of public prosecutions, Tor-Aksel Busch, told news agency
NTB.

If found sane, Breivik faces Norway’s maximum prison sentence of 21 years
behind bars, a sentence that can be extended as long as he is considered a
threat to society.

If he is found criminally insane, he could spend the rest of his life in
psychiatric care.

In order to sentence him to prison, the judges must be convinced that he is
sane “beyond reasonable doubt”, a legal term that lacks a clear
definition.

The prosecution’s closing arguments on Thursday will therefore be crucial in
either emphasising or eliminating doubt on the question.

On July 22, Breivik first set off a car bomb outside government buildings in
Oslo, killing eight people, before travelling to Utoya island, northwest of
the capital, where he spent more than an hour methodically shooting and
killing another 69 people, mostly teenagers.

The victims had been attending a summer camp hosted by the governing Labour
Party’s youth organisation.

Breivik has told the court his acts were “cruel but necessary” to
protect Norway from a wave of multiculturalism and a “Muslim invasion”.

The trial, which opened on April 16, concludes on Friday with the defence
lawyers’ closing arguments. They are expected to call for Breivik to be
acquitted, since, despite his confession, he has pleaded not guilty.

Alternatively, they will ask that he be found sane and sent to prison.

The Oslo court is expected to announce its verdict on either July 20 or August
24.

Source: AFP

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