The suspect in the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II has acknowledged carrying out the mass shooting and bombing, and claims to have worked with two other cells, a judge said Monday.
Anders Behring Breivik acknowledges carrying out the attacks, Judge Kim Heger said, but said the attacks were necessary to prevent the “colonization” of the country by Muslims. He accused the Labour Party, the target of the mass shooting, of “treason” for promoting multiculturalism, the judge said.
Police are investigating the suspect’s claim that he worked with other cells to carry out the attacks, Heger said. Other court officials said they could not confirm the existence of the cells and referred questions to police.
Heger ordered Breivik to remain in custody for eight weeks, until his next scheduled court appearance, as authorities continue to investigate a bombing in Oslo and a mass shooting at a nearby island that together killed nearly 80 people.
Authorities originally said 93 had died but announced Monday that eight people were confirmed dead in the bombing and 68 confirmed dead the shooting, bringing the total number killed in the two attacks to 76. Also on Monday, police said they were still searching Utoya Island for shooting victims, adding that 50 officers were going through “to make sure there are no casualties left.”
The suspect will be held in isolation for the first four weeks of his custody because of the possibility of tampering with evidence, Heger said. He will have access to his lawyer but no one else, and no letters or news, court officials said.
Breivik, 32, is a suspected right-wing Christian extremist who appears to have written a 1,500-page manifesto ranting against Muslims and laying out meticulous plans to prepare for the attacks without being detected.
CNN has not independently confirmed that Breivik is the author of the manifesto, which says it is designed to be circulated among sympathizers and bears his name.
The judge spoke to news reporters after a hearing that was closed to the public for “security reasons and because of a concern that it would impede the investigation,” court communications director Irene Ramm told CNN.
Breivik asked to wear a uniform to the hearing but was not allowed to, court official said.
Police spokesman Henning Holtaas told CNN earlier Monday that details about the attacks and the numbers of dead would be released at a news conference later in the day.
“It is important for Norwegian police to be 100% sure before releasing the names of the dead,” he told CNN.
The Norwegian government called for a national moment of silence in their memory Monday, ordering trains halted as part of a nationwide observance to remember the victims of Friday’s bombing in downtown Oslo and shooting at a political youth retreat on Utoya Island.
Court officials were among many who stood in silence to mark the moment at noon.
The suspect has been charged with two acts of terror, one for the bombing and one for the mass shooting, Holtaas said.
In Norway, the maximum sentence on such a charge is 21 years. However, if the court deems that a person could be a future threat, then they can be sentenced to “preventative detention,” Holtaas said. Under that type of sentence, a person would serve the maximum sentence of 21 years and then the court could assess an extension if the person was still deemed a threat, he said.
Breivik, a Norwegian, has told investigators he acted alone and was not aided in the planning, acting National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told reporters Sunday. But authorities have not ruled out that others may have been involved or helped him along the way, he said.
Sponheim said there has been “no progress” in ascertaining what the suspect’s motive might have been. But he said that investigators were studying a manifesto that authorities believe was published online the day of the attack.
The suspect told investigators during interviews that he belonged to an international order, The Knights Templar, according to Norwegian newspaper VG, which cited unnamed sources.
He described the organization as an armed Christian order, fighting to rid the West of Islamic suppression, the newspaper said. He also told investigators he had been in contact with like-minded individuals and said he counts himself as a representative of this order, it said.
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(WARNING: SATIRE AHEAD!)
If the U.N. Treated Norway like it treats Israel…
New York, July 25 – During an emergency session on Monday, the U.N. General Assembly voted 156 to 7 to condemn NORWAY for its arrest of Anders Behring Breivik, the renown human rights activist and leader of the “Knights Templar,” a popular medieval order of crusading monks. Norway accuses Mr. Breivik of being responsible for a recent mysterious explosion in downtown Oslo which Norway alleges was an act of terrorism.
The U.N. General Assembly was especially critical of the Norwegian police’s “indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force.” According to eye witnesses’ accounts, a Norwegian SWAT team with assault rifles arrested Mr. Breivik at gun-point. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon noted that Norway “used direct live fire against an unarmed demonstrator. I call on the Norwegian security forces to refrain from using excessive force in the future. Such use constitutes a violation of the U.N. Convention and international law.”
Furthermore, Mr. Breivik’s continued detention in Norway’s prisons is considered a “shocking violation of his civil rights,” stated the U.N. Secretary General. He demanded that Norway to immediately release Mr. Breivik from the “unconscionable solitary confinement to which an Oslo court ordered him detained.”
Finally, the U.N. General Assembly put pressure on Norway to recognize the Knights Templar and its leader, Anders Behring Breivik, as the legitimate representative of the crusading monks. The Norwegian government is urged to begin direct negotiations with Knights Templars for a just peace. Any final settlement agreement must address the crusading monks’ grievances and satisfy their national aspirations. As provided in numerous U.N. Resolutions, Norway’s continued occupation of the crusading monks’ ancestral homeland is illegal and a major source of instability in the region. Only Norway’s complete and unconditional withdrawal from the territories willafford the crusading monks true redress for their unjust dis-possession: the establishment of an independent CRUSADISTAN with its capital West-Oslo.