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Monday
Jul252011

Norway Latest: Breivik to Appear in Court Over Oslo Attacks (Al Jazeera English)

UPDATE 1845 GMT: Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in Oslo and other cities to show sorrow and unity over the Oslo/Utoeya attacks.

UPDATE 1600 GMT: Appearing in court today, Anders Behring Breivik said "calmly" that he expects to spend the rest of his life in prison for the Oslo bomb and Utoeya shootings on Friday.

Breivik entered a not guilty plea, even as he said that he wanted to save Europe from Muslim immigration and warned that there are two other cells in his "network".

Police have revised the death toll from the shootings at the youth camp on Utoeya downward from 86 to 68, claiming difficulties in gathering information. Eight people were slain in the Oslo bomb outside the Prime Minister's office building in Oslo.
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Al Jazeera English summarises the latest development in the Oslo bomb and Utoeya shootings:

The man charged with killing 93 people in a bombing and mass shooting attack in Norway is to appear before a judge in a central Oslo court amid tight security on Monday.

Anders Behring Breivik, the alleged mastermind behind Friday's attacks, told police he acted alone, as thousands attended a memorial service on Sunday for victims of the massacre.

Breivik, 32, will not learn the actual charges against him until the investigation is concluded closer to his trial date.

At least seven people were killed in a car bomb blast outside government buildings in Oslo on Friday and a further 86 were killed after the shooting on the island of Utoya, 40km away, where a Labour party youth camp was being held. The attacks wounded at least 100 other people.

Police continue to hunt for possible accomplices and on Sunday they defended the hour it took to reach the island where the shooting took place.

The murderous "crusade" unleashed by the self-confessed "monster" was designed to end a centuries-long Muslim colonisation of Europe, Breivik said in a 1,500-page tract released on the internet, but police say they still have no motive for his actions.

'Cruel' but 'necessary'

Friday's shooting spree lasted for around 90 minutes before Breivik surrendered to police, who immediately arrested him. Police said on Sunday that Breivik had ammunition left over.

"Breivik is being held at Oslo's police headquarters," Al Jazeera's Harry Smith, reporting from Norway's capital, said. "On Monday, he will be transferred across town for an appearance at the city's criminal court."

"His lawyer has said on that occasion [Breivik] will explain fully what he's done, and more importantly, why he did it."

Witnesses described scenes of horror among the more than 500 people attending the youth camp. Some who tried to swim to safety were even shot in the water.

The chief surgeon at a hospital treating victims of Norway's camp massacre says the killer used special bullets designed to disintegrate inside the body and cause maximum internal damage.

And ballistics experts say so-called dum-dum bullets also are lighter in weight, can be fired with greater accuracy over varying distances and are commonly are used by air marshals and hunters of small animals.

Sveinung Sponheim, the acting police commissioner, said that all the dead had now been removed from the island and "taken to the coroner's morgue where the autopsies will be carried out".

During weekend interrogation, Breivik told police that his attacks were "cruel" but "necessary".

While he "admitted responsibility", police said, his lawyer Geir Lippestad said he was not accepting "criminal responsibility", and that his client felt he had done "nothing reprehensible".

The attacks have caused outrage in Norway amid calls for the reinstatement of the death penalty, given the maximum prison sentence the perpetrator can face is 21 years' imprisonment.

Police have not ruled out the involvement of a second gunman, and on Sunday they detained several people in a swoop on an Oslo property thought to be connected to the attacks. They were released shortly afterwards and no explosives were found.

National mourning

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Norway's King Harald V and Queen Sonja led the nation in mourning at Oslo Cathedral.

But as harrowing testimony emerged from the summer camp where scores of youngsters were mowed down, Norway struggled to understand how a country famed as a beacon of peace could experience such bloodshed on its soil.

The attacks on Friday afternoon were western Europe's deadliest since the 2004 Madrid bombings, carried out by the al-Qaeda terror network.

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