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Norway police chief quits over Breivik report | Norway police chief quits over Breivik report |
(40 minutes later) | |
Norway's police chief Oeystein Maeland has resigned after an inquiry found that mass killer Anders Behring Breivik could have been stopped last year. | |
Mr Maeland took up his post days before Breivik murdered 77 people in a bombing in Oslo and a gun attack on a summer camp on Utoeya Island. | |
The independent report said on Monday the bombing could have been prevented. | |
It also criticised the "unacceptable" amount of time which police took to respond to the shootings. | |
The tone of the inquiry was also markedly different from an earlier police report which concluded that none of the officers on duty had hesitated in carrying out their duties. | |
Damaging report | |
The resignation of Mr Maeland was revealed by Justice Minister Grete Faremo during a TV debate late on Thursday. | |
Mr Maeland said later that he could no longer continue in the job without the minister's confidence. | |
"If the ministry and other political authorities do not clarify this matter unequivocally, it will become impossible for me to continue," he said in a statement. | |
Among the most damaging of the report's conclusions is that a two-man local police team reached the lake shore first, but chose to wait for better-trained colleagues rather than find a boat and cross to Utoeya themselves. | |
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said shortly after the report was published that he deeply regretted the mistakes that had been made and took responsibility for what happened. | |
But he stopped short of saying there would be ministerial resignations. | |
Breivik, 33, admits carrying out the murders on 22 July last year but denies criminal guilt. | |
His 10-week trial ended in June and a verdict is due to be announced on 24 August. | |
The panel of five trial judges will have to rule on Breivik's sanity when they deliver their ruling. | |
Their conclusion will determine whether he is given a long prison sentence or is sent to a secure psychiatric ward. | |
The attacks, regarded as the worst act of violence in Norway since World War II, sparked a national debate about the nature of tolerance and democracy in the country. |
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