July 25 (Bloomberg) -- Anders Behring Breivik, in custody for killing 76 people in a Norwegian shooting rampage and bombing, must spend four weeks in pre-trial detention with no contact with the outside world.
Judge Kim Heger said after a 30-minute closed court hearing that Breivik, 32, can receive no visits, nor send or receive letters for the entire eight-week period he will be detained. Breivik told the hearing that he planted the July 22 bomb in Oslo and killed people at a youth camp on Utoeya island as he sought to inflict the “greatest possible loss” to the ruling Labor party that ran the camp, Heger said.
The court and prosecutors are concerned Breivik may hinder the investigation by contacting possible accomplices. He told the hearing there were “two more cells in our organization.” If convicted on the two counts of Acts of Terror he has been charged with, he could receive a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison, Norway’s toughest punishment.
Given the “seriousness, the extent and character of this case, the court considers the arguments for isolation are immense,” Heger said after the hearing.
“Nothing like this has ever happened in Norway, it’s an extraordinary case,” Geir Engebretsen, President of the Oslo District Court, told reporters before the hearing.
Revised Fatalities
Armed with a pistol and semi-automatic rifle, Breivik killed 68 people at a youth camp held by the Labor party on Utoeya island, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Oslo. He killed eight more in a car bomb blast earlier that day in the government district of the capital. Police today revised down an earlier estimate of a total of 93 casualties.
“He said he believed his actions were atrocious, but in his head they were necessary,” Breivik’s defense lawyer Geir Lippestad told Norway’s TV2 on July 23.
In his manifesto, the suspect said that he made an application for a Glock 17 and that he acquired a semi-automatic Ruger Mini 14. He said that he also owned a Benelli Nova Pump- Action and a 308 win bolt rifle. The police have declined to say what make of gun he used for the attacks or how he acquired the weapons.
While Breivik admitted to the dual attacks, he did not plead guilty, Heger said.
‘Sharp Signal’
“The operation was not intended to kill as many people as possible, but to give ‘a sharp signal’ to the people that can’t be misunderstood,” Heger said, citing Breivik’s comments in court. “As long as the Labor Party follows its ideological line and continues to deconstruct Norwegian culture and import Muslims en masse so they must take responsibility for this treason.”
Breivik appeared calm and composed during the proceedings and told the court he expected to spend the rest of his life in jail, police prosecutor Christian Hatlo said at a separate press conference.
If Breivik were convicted, prosecutors may ask that he be imprisoned longer than 21 years on the grounds that he might repeat a violent crime and that a 21-year sentence wouldn’t be sufficient to prevent that, police spokeswoman Carol Sandbye said yesterday. Were that to happen, Breivik would need to be retried every five years, she said.
21 Years
Protestors outside the court shouted angrily at vehicles they thought might contain Breivik, and at his lawyer as he entered the courtroom.
“I would have liked to see him get 21 years per person he has killed,” said Alexander Roine, 24.
