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Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012 9:45 AM UTC

Norway killer to try to refute insanity diagnosis

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Topics: From the Wires,

Norway killer to try to refute insanity diagnosisAnders Behring Breivik in conversation with member of his defence team Tord Jordet in the courtroom in Oslo Wednesday, April 25, 2012. After testifying for five days, Anders Behring Breivik listened silently Tuesday as others described the mayhem caused by his bombing of Oslo's government district, a scene one witness described as a "war zone." Forensic experts explained the massive injuries to four of the eight victims killed by the 950-kilogram (2,100-pound) fertilizer bomb on July 22. Breivik admits to the bombing and a subsequent shooting massacre at a Labor Party youth camp that left 69 people dead, most of them teenagers. (AP Photo/Hakon Mosvold Larsen, Pool)(Credit: AP)

OSLO, Norway (AP) — Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is set to return to the stand in an attempt to prove to the court trying him on terror charges that he is not insane.

The far-right fanatic, who confessed to killing 77 people in a bombing and shooting massacre on July 22, was declared insane by one psychiatric examination, while another reached the opposite conclusion.

Breivik is expected to address Wednesday the first diagnosis as he testifies in the Oslo district court.

Earlier Wednesday, forensic experts continued describing the horrific injuries of the eight victims killed by a bomb in the government district, including two passers-by who were torn to pieces by the explosion. Victim’s relatives sobbed in the courtroom during the testimony. Breivik was expressionless.

A 26-year-old man who was hit by debris on the street outside the building and hospitalized for three weeks after the bombing recalled that he didn’t immediately realize that he had been injured.

Eivind Dahl Thoresen testified that it was only when he rushed to help another victim that he realized something was wrong with him, too.

“The way he looked at me: ‘Are you going to help me? Look at yourself,’” Thoresen told the court.

Thoresen said he then saw blood pumping out of his left arm. His jeans were soaked with blood. He sat down and cried for help as panic started to set in.

Two people provided first aid, bandaging his wounds with clothes that Thoresen was carrying in a bag. Thoresen’s lawyer showed the court a picture of the grim scene, taken by one of the men who helped him. Thoresen was on the ground, grimacing in agony, his white T-shirt stained by blood.

“I felt alternately cold and warm,” Thoresen said. “At that point I was sure I would die.”

He was taken to a hospital where doctors surgically removed shards from his arms and legs. He had another operation just a few weeks ago and still walks on crutches.

Breivik admits to the bombing and a subsequent shooting massacre at a Labor Party youth camp that left 69 people dead, most of them teenagers. He claims the attacks were “necessary” and that the victims had betrayed Norway by embracing immigration.

Describing the confusion that followed the blast, police operations leader Thor Langli said Tuesday the initial reports he received suggested there were two suspects, and two other bombs about to explode.

When he heard about the Utoya shooting, he started thinking the bomb and the massacre were the actions of the same person.

“I thought there was a connection. But I didn’t have any evidence for that,” Langli said. Turning to Breivik, he added: “I could not imagine there being two people with so many crazy ideas.”

The self-described militant nationalist testified last week that he had expected to be shot by police after the bombing. But no one stopped him as he walked to a getaway car parked near the bomb site, and he drove to Utoya.

“I estimated the chances of survival as less than 5 percent,” Breivik said last Thursday. The trial is scheduled to go on until in last June.

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Ritter can be reached at http://twitter.com/karl_ritter

Julia Gronnevet

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