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Defence sums up at Breivik massacre trial in Oslo Defence sums up on final day of Breivik trial
(40 minutes later)
The defence team for mass killer Anders Behring Breivik have begun delivering their closing arguments at the televised trial in Norway.The defence team for mass killer Anders Behring Breivik have begun delivering their closing arguments at the televised trial in Norway.
Breivik, sitting next to his lawyers, admits that he killed 77 people last July and insists that he is sane. It is the last scheduled day of his trial. Breivik, sitting next to his lawyers, admits he killed 77 people and injured 242 on 22 July of last year. He is also due to address the court.
The prosecution has called for him to be considered insane.The prosecution has called for him to be considered insane.
Breivik's main lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told the court his client did not dispute the charges against him. Breivik's main lawyer, Geir Lippestad, told the court in Oslo his client did not dispute the charges against him.
But he argued Breivik was of "sound mind" and should not be placed in psychiatric care.But he argued Breivik was of "sound mind" and should not be placed in psychiatric care.
It was, he stressed, for the court to decide whether his client had been sane at the time of the attacks. Several people injured or bereaved by Breivik are due to address the court before Breivik.
Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo before shooting young Labour Party supporters at an island camp. A support group for his victims is reported to be planning to walk out of the courtroom when Breivik speaks.
Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo before shooting young Labour Party supporters at a camp on the island of Utoeya.
He sought to justify his attacks by saying they were necessary to stop the "Islamisation" of Norway.He sought to justify his attacks by saying they were necessary to stop the "Islamisation" of Norway.
'Almost impossible'
It was, Mr Lippestad stressed, for the court to decide whether his client had been sane at the time of the attacks.
The fact that "safe, little Norway would be hit by such a terror attack is almost impossible to understand", the lawyer said.
This, he suggested, could explain in part why psychiatric experts had reached different conclusions about Breivik's mental state.
Breivik, Mr Lippestad argued, was a political activist who knew what he was doing.
He described his client as an ordinary young man with good friends and colleagues. How, he asked, would a man who was mentally ill have been allowed to join a shooting club?
Nothing in Breivik's life up until the "inferno of violence" on 22 July had indicated he was a violent person, the lawyer argued.
As Mr Lippestad spoke, Breivik sat calmly with his eyes closed, occasionally sipping water.
On Thursday, prosecutor Svein Holden said there were still doubts about Breivik's insanity so he should be placed in "compulsory psychiatric care", not sent to prison.
It was worse, he argued, to sentence a psychotic person to prison than to place a non-psychotic person in psychiatric care.
Trond Blattmann, leader of the 22 July Support Group, told Reuters news agency: "For me the most important thing is that he [Breivik] is not going to be in Norwegian society anymore."