Anders Breivik’s Norway massacre partly inspired by ‘English mentor’, trial hears

On Wednesday Breivik adamantly refused to name any of the participants.
However, his statement to the police identified the Briton who hosted the
gathering as “Richard”.

The real “Richard” – at least in Breivik’s mind – could be Paul
Ray
, a founder of the far-right English Defence League, who now
lives in Malta and used to blog under the name “Lionheart”. Mr Ray
has denied ever meeting Breivik, but acknowledged that he might have had
some influence over the Norwegian.

Yet the prosecution suspect that Breivik invented this London gathering. They
believe the “Knights Templar” may be nothing but a figment of his
imagination.

Under questioning, the killer could not remember when this supposedly seminal
encounter had taken place, saying that it could have been April 30 or 1 May
2002. His credit card records show that he did visit two London cafes over
that period.

Inga Bejer Engh, the prosecutor, asked him flatly whether he had invented the
meeting. “No, I haven’t made up anything,” replied Breivik, while
conceding that his manifesto contained a “pompous” description of
the gathering, which he had earlier described as “four sweaty guys in a
basement”.

His statement to the police said the other participants were an “English
Christian Atheist” and a “French Catholic”. Five others were
said to have attended “by proxy”. This meeting supposedly created
the “Knights Templar” with the aim of saving Europe from Islamic
colonisation. The crusading group’s definition of a Christian is someone who
celebrates Christmas – believing in God is optional.

Earlier, Breivik had travelled to Liberia to meet another member of this
supposed network. This journey to West Africa required him to pose as an aid
worker with Unicef and later as a “blood diamond” dealer.

There Breivik met a Serb ultra-nationalist who was hiding from international
justice. “From our point of view, he was a military hero, but from the
point of view of the international criminal tribunal, he was a war criminal,”
said the killer. He declined to name the man, but said that he travelled
directly from Liberia to London to represent the Serb at the meeting.

The aim was to form one-man cells which would carry out “spectacular”
attacks every “5 – 12 years” before taking over Europe in “50
– 100 years”, according to Breivik’s manifesto. There would be no small
assaults, only bloodstained atrocities, in order to achieve maximum
psychological impact.

Al-Qaeda was the inspiration, said Breivik, adding that his goal was to form “the
al-Qaeda for Christian nationalists in Europe”.

As the day went on, Breivik was increasingly discomfited by Ms Engh’s
questioning. Suddenly he burst out: “There are only two logical
outcomes to this trial: one is acquittal and the other is the death penalty.”

Ms Engh, visibly astonished, asked whether he wanted Norway to change the law
to allow him to suffer capital punishment. “I don’t want that, but I
would have respected it,” replied Breivik, adding that prison was a “pathetic
punishment” for his crimes.

A lay judge stood down on Tuesday after calling for the death penalty. This,
added Breivik, had been “a shame”. If a prosecutor’s job is to
cause a defendant to hang himself, Ms Engh succeeded beyond her own
expectations yesterday. The case continues with another three days of
testimony from Breivik.

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