Anders Breivik Trial: Killer Planned To Behead Former PM Gro Harlem Brundtland

Posted: 19/04/2012 14:17 Updated: 19/04/2012 14:17

Anders Breivik
Anders Breivik planned to behead Norway's former prime minister and use a lake around the island he attacked in Utoya as a "weapon of mass destruction" to kill everyone, he told court on Thursday.

Anders Breivik planned to behead Norway's former prime minister and use a lake around the island he attacked as a "weapon of mass destruction" to kill everyone, he told court on Thursday.

During his chilling testimony, the right-wing extremist said he believed "all political activists who choose to fight for multiculturalism are legitimate targets."

He killed 69 people on Utoya island, which was hosting a Labour party youth camp. Breivik told the court he also planned to execute Norway's former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, who had visited the island ahead of the massacre, adding he wanted to post a film of her beheading online.


Matthew Price
That last half hour from was the most chilling testimony yet. He was so cold. So deliberate. Not a flicker of doubt.

Speaking at the fourth day of his trial on Thursday the 33-year-old told the Oslo court he believed his chance of survival was 5% when he set off a bomb outside a government building in July last year, before travelling to attack a Labour party youth camp in Utoya.

"When I parked the car outside the government offices, I had expected a national alarm would be raised and three or four people would storm out.

"I would have a pincer movement against me and I would have to fight my way out of there.

"I had trained to get myself out of this situation and this is what I was simulating," he said.

There was weeping in court from the families of victims as he described the twin massacres, in Oslo and Utoya.

The court also heard about Breivik spent 16 hours a day playing the computer game World of Warcraft during a "sabbatical" from his business activities and how he "trained" for the attacks by playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

"If you are familiar with a holographic sight, it's built up in such a way that you could have given it to your grandmother and she would have been a super marksman. It's designed to be used by anyone. In reality it requires very little training to use it in an optimal way. But of course it does help if you've practised using a simulator," he said.

The far-right extremist accused prosecutors of trying to ridicule him when they asked how he spent the New Year's Eve before his attack, saying "You're trying to make fun of me." He had previously told judges he was "social" and "when I party, I go all out. I do things very thoroughly."

During his fourth day in court a clearer picture emerged of how he meticulously planned his attacks, first deciding on taking violent action more than a decade before striking, in 1999 when he was just 20.

Five years before attacking the government building in Oslo he had scouted it out as a target. He also explained how he gave names to his weapons derived from Norse mythology. His handgun was named "Mjolnir" after Thor's hammer and his rifle "gungnir" after the spear of Odin.

The killer said it was "a European tradition"

Breivik also condemned the psychiatric report which judged him to be criminally insane, declaring it was a "fairytale" and "80% made up."

He divulged to prosecutors 50-60% of his manifesto, which he published online before carrying out the brutal killings, was "cut and paste" from other sources.


Helen Pidd
Breivik says he was "fairly social" in the year before his "operation" - and "when I party, I go all out. I do things very thoroughly"

Breivik is expected to divulge further details about his family, life with his mother and the events leading up to his massacre of 77 people in July last year as he gives evidence on Thursday.

He told the court on Wednesday there were only "two just and fair" outcomes of his trial: "acquittal or capital punishment."


Matthew Price
Day 4 of trial due to start any minute. Will he salute the court? He's been asked not to.

Breivik, who has admitted to the crimes and faces a 21 year jail sentence if found guilty, said: "I consider 21 years of prison as a pathetic punishment." Norway does not carry the death penalty.

Hesaid his attacks were inspired by "Serb nationalists" and that he distanced himself from "old school" right-wing ideology.

MORE DETAILS: Anders Breivik Played World Of Warcraft 'Full-Time' For A Year

BLOG: Anders Breivik -- Our Standard Bearer?

BLOG: The First Step to Mass Murder Is a Belief in Good and Evil

"The essence was to try to distance oneself sufficiently from national socialism because it was quite blood-stained," he told the court. "We felt it completely essential to do so. For the extreme right to be ever be able to prevail in Europe in the future, one had to distance oneself from the old school ideology."

The Serbs had a "crusader" mentality which he aspired to emulate, Breivik said.

He said he was more "liberal" than the Nazis and would allow a small number of non-Norwegans to live in the country.

The killer also told the court he admired al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, explaining that nationalists had much to learn from them, despite his self-confessed Islamaphobia.

He told judges he was not scared of death and was "surprised" he survived his attacks in July last year.

"If I had feared death I would not have dared to carry out this operation," he said.

Earlier, Breivik refused to give details about his visit to London 10 years ago, during which he claimed an anti-Islamic organisation called the Knights Templar was founded.

Questioned by prosecution on whether he met fellow anti-Islamic activists including a character named 'Richard The Lionheart' in London in 2002, as detailed in his notorious manifesto, Breivik said there was a meeting but was evasive about the exact details.

"It is not in my interest to shed light on details that could lead to arrests," he told the Oslo court on Wednesday.

"There is nothing that is made up, but you have to see what is written in a context. It is a glorification of certain ideals," Breivik said in relation to his manifesto.

But he was warned by the judge that a refusal to give details in response to questioning could be used against him.


Prosecutors showed images of Breivik taken from his manifesto. A badge on the uniform read "Marxist Hunter"

Appearing on the third day of his trial for the murder of 77 people in July last year, the 33-year-old did not discuss claims in the document about his "English protestant host" and the founding session of the Knights Templar group.

Prosecutors have said they believe no such organisation exists.

While the killer's credit card was used in London at the time, it is not clear he met with any fellow activists.

An EDL member who blogs under the name "lionheart" has previously denied meeting Breivik.

Breivik told the court on Tuesday said he "would do it all again because he was motivated by goodness, not evil."


During the trial he told the judge: "I do not recognise the Norwegian courts"


The far-right extremist said his bombing campaign and shooting spree was the "most sophisticated and spectacular political attack seen in Europe" since World War II.


The killer wipes away a tear as the court sees his propaganda video

As Breivik has admitted to the Oslo car bomb and shooting in Utoya, the trial is likely to focus on whether or not the killer is sane. His defence team have said the extremist would like to be found legally sane.

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Anders Breivik planned to behead Norway's former prime minister and use a lake around the island he attacked as a "weapon of mass destruction" to kill everyone, he told court on Thursday. During hi...
Anders Breivik planned to behead Norway's former prime minister and use a lake around the island he attacked as a "weapon of mass destruction" to kill everyone, he told court on Thursday. During hi...
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07:35 AM on 04/20/2012
How much more poison to we have to be subjected to from this man? Unfortunately, he is sane....he cold-heartedly plotted his attacks and was fully aware of the consequences - this is what makes it more disturbing. He may have a psychopathic personality disorder, with no feelings of guilt or remorse, but this does not make him insane.
Although the Norwegian judicial system has attempted to "do the right thing" by allowing an open trial, they have simply given him a world-wide platform to preach his evil, twisted ideologies.
What frightens me, is that there are going to be many other psychopathic people lapping up his every word and spurred on by his actions and beliefs to plan and carry out their own attacks....
05:32 PM on 04/20/2012
The media coverage (especially on the BBC) is way too much. People like Breivek rely on the "oxygen of publicity" to spread their poison and the way his testimony is being slavishly reported by Steve Rosenberg, a BBC reporter, on every news bulletin is questionable. I don't normally agree with Court proceedings being kept secret but, in this case, it might have been a good idea.
05:45 AM on 04/20/2012
the thing thats puzzling me about the news reports covering this case is the amount of them talking about "video games" being his training or influencing factors, he played WoW and CoD:Mw2 ..whoop de doo they are the top gaming titles who have had millions of people playing for millions upon millions of man hours.

its as if they want to talk about anything else other than his declared and well detailed motives for the massacre, and simpletons are blabbering on over him playing a first person shooter.
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08:26 AM on 04/20/2012
yeah more folk play warcraft than go to the cinema to watch the biggest films it really makes me laugh when i hear on the radio he took a year out to play warcraft a year out from what ?
10:24 PM on 04/19/2012
Looking at some off the pictures of Breivik. The equipment he was using or used looked very proffesional. Were did he get his equipment from? Also the bomb he made, nothing has been said about the type of expolsives that were used. The extensive damage that the bomb caused does not really point to something Breivik knocked up in the kitchen. There would have been residues left from the blast, which would have a finger print. But as far as I know nothing has been said about the type of explosives used.
06:29 AM on 04/20/2012
he rented a farm, and then used that to acquire the necessary chemicals.
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Steve Lives
The Venus Project ... look it up
12:57 PM on 04/20/2012
Fertilizer and diesel fuel, same as the guys who did the Oklahoma bombing, is what I had read somewhere previously. I think it was here on the Huff Po.
01:15 PM on 04/20/2012
Thinking about it, The IRA used the same type of material for some of the London bombs, with deverstating results.
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turkeylurky
Just keepin it real........
09:59 PM on 04/19/2012
He almost makes Mel Gibson appear sane.
08:59 PM on 04/19/2012
this maniac is a result of a pressure cooker effect of discontent on full throttle. the lid is about to blow on many a disgruntled person because they have been ignored,marginalised,usurped of identity and sovereignty. of course these people will surface occasionally if you exclude and shout them down,driving them underground to fester and surface later as dangerous derranged maniacs. the trouble is,there are now a lot of them. pop goes the weasel per se.
07:42 PM on 04/19/2012
To all parents out there. This is an example of what happens when you don't encourage and support your children in every dream and hope for acknowledgment and praise to help them become the people they want to be.
This is what happens when children are broken by ridicule and a sense of "never being good enough". That sense of powerlessness leads to a powerless and drifting adult never really reconciled with themselves or the world.
For some - this burden of pain and brokenness creates an insanity. A desire for what is now an illusion of what they madly believe might be power.
The horror of that day directly springs from a child who was broken and cast aside. A child without hope and driven mad by the voice that echoed through his heart and mind and tells them "not now"; "go away"; "you're useless".
Human beings don't emerge out of an ether as "evil". They are born and raised by men and women.
Do you honestly believe this soul was given what he needed to thrive.? Or do you want the simplistic nonsense that he is "evil"?
I'm afraid the world made Anders Breivik. Its brutality - borne in the madness of a person who could not be.
You can try to find the truth or swallow the tablet the media and "justice system"; will give you. One requires no effort on your behalf - the other requires something else.
09:38 PM on 04/19/2012
Are you saying that he is a victim of his past?

If so I strongly disagree with this logic, the only saving grace in your statement is the inclusion of "For some".
We live in a world full of information on how to help us with our difficulties - therapy, self help books, more religions than you could shake a stick at, support groups...

No! Breivik's actions are his own choice and responsibility, now he must experience the consequences of what he has done.

Some of us have had very cruel childhood's and suffer, and will for the rest of our lives, psychologically from this.
As a society we need to have boundaries of acceptable behaviour even for those of us who have been damaged by society.

This demon has gone well beyond these boundaries and forfeited any sympathy related to his upbringing as far as I am concerned.
04:58 PM on 04/21/2012
What offends me is the way the media conceptualizes someone as being separate and apart from the rest of humanity. Thereby letting itself and the establishment off the hook.
I'd also like to point out that there are many different types of brutality and governments themselves along with their media cronies have murdered millions of innocent women and children. Yet they and their systems of "government" continue and are even applauded by the majority. Apparently they are perfectly "sane" and "moral".
No one will be knocking on their doors - asking for justice. Because the legal system itself protects those individuals.
Anders Breivik was simply doing what he sees done every day by western governments. He simply thought he would have a go at what Bush or Obama or Blair or Thatcher got away with. A private "enterprise" of political and cultural annihilation towards those he deemed as "toxic".
So who was Anders' inspirational role models? Who, in a sense - taught him to be a monster?
We were all children once.
Rather than ask the profound question of what turned a young boy into a man capable of robbing people of their lives. What does the media and "justice system" do? It acts to defend the status quo of an established point of view that probably had a great deal in the hand of shaping Anders Breivik in the first place.
A chance to really learn wasted. Anders Breivik gets bumped off in prison at some point - problem
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teeleecee
I'm not who I think you think I am.
07:13 PM on 04/19/2012
He reminds me of Kevin Spacey's character in "Seven"--completely without conscience and feeling absolutely justified in ridding the world of people that he feels are unworthy. Wow. What a mind.
06:15 PM on 04/19/2012
This man is totally mad so anything you do to him will not work. Shove him in a corner of a mental home out of the way.
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mirola
Read between the lines
07:06 PM on 04/19/2012
Absolutely true. There is nothing whatsoever to rehabilitate a person like this. Killing, beheading, blowing up and being convinced it's for a good cause and doing it again when given the chance. Throw him in a hole and let him stay there until he's rotted away.
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Norman Mitchison
05:43 PM on 04/19/2012
The Death Penalty ,although desrvedly merited in this case ,would only make him a Martyr to other dissidents ,whereas life spent in isolation in prison would be far harder for him.
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05:58 PM on 04/19/2012
The should send him to Gwantananoo Bay . Life in prison in Norway is like life in the Fidji Islands.
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07:11 PM on 04/19/2012
While a Norwegian prison may seem like a soft option to some, the loss of liberty is the punitive element. Daily living conditions and facilities provided are geared toward rehabilitation. The two concepts can live quite well together.
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fromdnorth
OK I checked my micro-bio (didn't know I had one
04:13 PM on 04/19/2012
So basically he is saying that his murderous mind is a template for the ideal Norweign society...
katertaif
My wife thinks I have one fault. Everything I do!
04:03 PM on 04/19/2012
In self defence naturally!!!
02:43 PM on 04/19/2012
"I woke up thinking, today is the day I will die. I wasn't keen on dying but that's the way it was" - cite BBCs @stvbrg

This man is truly testing believers in non corporal punishment. The deaf penalty is barbaric; however, should there be exceptions for people like him?
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rabidrightwatch
Green lefty & active environmentalist
03:13 PM on 04/19/2012
no, there shouldn't be any exceptions - when you think of it, imprisonment for the likes of Breivik is a far worse punishment than the death penalty..

State-sponsored revenge killing, even in extreme cases such as this, is not a deterrent.
katertaif
My wife thinks I have one fault. Everything I do!
04:10 PM on 04/19/2012
With the exception of the USA, which is the only country where it's citizens have the right to bear arms, and which therefore alters the incidence of capital crime, I believe you will find that where countries retain the death penalty, the rate of capital crime per capita is lower than those who donot. Look at the incidence in capital crime in this country when the death penalty was abolished. It went up. Whether or not you agree with it, it is a deterrent.
03:16 PM on 04/19/2012
fr3kysnail: I don't think that caning him would do a lot of good, I think you mean CAPITAL punishment......not sure about making people deaf as a punishment :)
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03:24 PM on 04/19/2012
I'm strongly opposed to capital punishment, but I quite like the novel idea of the "deaf penalty" if it means we don't have to listen to his right-wing garbage and he doesn't get to hear the rubbish spewed by his extremist fans.
03:28 PM on 04/19/2012
(Devils Advocate)

However, should the people fund Breivik's custodial life, which should last for about another 50+ years if he lives to normal life expectancy?

One place where the death penalty is wrong, is the USA, where the State of Texas executes on a regular basis. In those circumstances, the clarity of guilt or innocence is so murky, it makes the Thames look like drinking water.

This case it's crystal clear. This man is a mass murderer, and maybe we should recognise that he committed an atrocity of war, and needs to be put to death.