Mass. Student Defends Norwegian Massacre Suspect
WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE: BOSTON — A senior at a Roman Catholic college in Massachusetts who has written letters of support to a Norwegian mass murder suspect will not be on campus "for the foreseeable future," according to school officials.

Officials at Assumption College in Worcester wouldn't say Friday whether student Kevin Forts would graduate in May. Renee Buisson, the school's public affairs director, released a statement saying that Forts has a right to express personal opinions as a U.S. citizen, but that his conduct was "under administrative review."

The review includes the English major's comments to a Norwegian news outlet in support of Anders Breivik, as well as an arrest for an alleged assault on campus this year.

Breivik is standing trial in Norway in a shooting and bombing massacre in July that killed 77 people, including children. He confessed but rejects guilt by claiming he was trying to protect Norway and Europe by targeting political forces he says opened the country to immigration. He has said an anti-Muslim network he is part of will lead a revolt with the aim of deporting Muslims.

An English-language video interview on the website of VG Nett shows Forts defending Breivik's actions. Forts called the deaths of the children "a necessary political sacrifice that is not necessary again." Forts said people need to look at Breivik's political platform, "rather than his atrocious actions."

The student also called Breivik a patriot whose act "demonstrates a sense of nationalism and a moral conscience." » | The Associated Press | Friday, April 20, 2012

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Meet Anders Breivik’s American Pen Pal
TIME: “I dream of meeting Breivik,” 23-year-old Kevin Forts told a Norwegian tabloid.


With each passing day, Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik appears increasingly remorseless and smug during his ongoing trial for the murders of 77 people, and with each passing day the crimes he’s accused of look even more reprehensible. It is most people’s idea of a nightmare even to be in the same room as the murderous extremist.

But not all people.

Meet 23-year-old Kevin Forts of Worcester, Mass., who says it is his “dream” to meet the fanatical right-wing killer and that he agrees with his “cause” of fighting “cultural Marxism and the Islamization of Norway.”

In this videotaped interview with a reporter from Norwegian tabloid VG, Forts calls Breivik’s bombing of government offices in Oslo and the systematic executions of 69 people at a youth camp on the nearby island of Utoya a “necessary political sacrifice.” The deliberate killing of small children, he says, was “atrocious but necessary” in that it raised awareness for his cause. » | Anoosh Chakelian | Friday, April 20, 2012

SKY NEWS (AUSTRALIA): US student writes to defend Breivik: A senior at a Roman Catholic college in Massachusetts who has written letters of support to a Norwegian mass murder suspect will not be on campus 'for the foreseeable future,' according to school officials. ¶ Officials at Assumption College in Worcester wouldn't say on Friday whether student Kevin Forts would graduate in May. » | Saturday, April 21, 2012

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Anders Behring Breivik: Court In Shock as Norway Gunman Describes Massacre

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik shocked an Oslo courtroom on Friday as he calmly described hunting down teenagers on an island summer camp.

As his words rolled out, survivors and victims' relatives of the July 22 massacre hugged and sobbed, trying to comfort each other. That testimony was also broadcast to 17 other courtrooms in Norway where others affected by the attacks were gathered, but was not carried live on Norwegian television.

The 33-year-old Norwegian left out no detail from his rampage, explaining how he shot panicked youths at point-blank range.

Sixty-nine people, mostly teenagers, were killed on Utoya island and others only survived by diving into chilly waters to escape.

Breivik said he did not anticipate his victims' reactions.

"Some of them are completely paralysed. They cannot run. They stand totally still. This is something they never show on TV," Breivik said. "It was very strange." » | Friday, April 20, 2012

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Norway's Breivik Says Former PM Was His Main Target
The man who killed 77 people in Norway has told a court in Oslo that his shooting rampage was inspired by a computer game. Anders Behring Breivik told prosecutors his main target was the former prime minister. Paul Brennan reports from Oslo.

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Breivik : "Je ne suis pas un cas psychiatrique"

TF1 NEWS: "Je suis quelqu'un de très sympathique, en temps normal", a assuré vendredi l'extrémiste de droite jugé pour avoir tué 77 personnes en Norvège, expliquant avoir "déshumanisé" ses victimes en s'entraînant mentalement pendant des années. Il a aussi insisté pour être reconnu pénalement responsable.

Au cinquième jour de son procès, Anders Behring Breivik s'est expliqué sur sa "préparation mentale" afin de pouvoir perpétrer ses attaques, qui ont fait 77 victimes l'an dernier en Norvège. "Je suis quelqu'un de très sympathique en temps normal. Mais j'ai dû refouler mes émotions, notamment en pratiquant la méditation, et couper mes liens sociaux" en 2006 en vue de pouvoir se préparer à commettre les deux attaques du 22 juillet 2011.

Ce jour-là, il avait ouvert le feu sur des centaines de jeunes travaillistes réunis en camp d'été sur l'île d'Utoeya, faisant 69 morts, essentiellement des adolescents. Juste avant, il avait fait exploser une bombe près du siège du gouvernement norvégien dans le centre d'Oslo, faisant huit autres victimes. Se disant en guerre contre "les élites" qui permettent "l'islamisation" de l'Europe, Breivik a reconnu les faits mais refuse de plaider coupable. "Il faut déshumaniser l'ennemi" » | vendredi 20 avril 2012

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Norway's Breivik Says He Learned from Al Qaeda

CNN: Oslo, Norway -- Anders Behring Breivik, who admits killing 77 people in Norway last summer, told a court in Oslo on Friday that he learned lessons from al Qaeda in planning his attacks.

He followed al Qaeda closely from 2006 to 2011 and studied the terror network's "media effect, what they have done wrong, what they have done right ... what it takes," Breivik said.

Breivik is on trial on charges of voluntary homicide and committing acts of terror in the July 22 attacks. He admits carrying out the Oslo bombing that killed eight people and shooting 69 people dead on nearby Utoya Island.

He boasts of being an ultranationalist who killed his victims to fight multiculturalism in Norway.

Breivik told the court he picked up the idea of wearing a police uniform for the gun massacre on Utoya from reading al Qaeda's online "magazine" for followers. He also gained tips from watching documentaries on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

"The most successful (terror organization) is al Qaeda. ... They connect their actions to becoming a martyr. That is the key to a successful resistance," he said. » | CNN Wire Staff | Friday, April 20, 2012

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Breivik: le procès attire des extrémistes
LE FIGARO: Une dizaine d'extrémistes de droite ont été repérés à proximité du tribunal d'Oslo depuis l'ouverture lundi du procès d'Anders Behring Breivik pour le massacre de 77 personnes l'été dernier en Norvège.

Au total, "une dizaine de personnes ont été écartées" de la zone de sécurité entourant le palais de justice de la capitale norvégienne, a déclaré Kjell Jan Kvarme, l'officier de police en charge des opérations, à la télévision publique NRK. Selon lui, ces personnes "ont été écartées avant d'être en position de représenter une menace" éventuelle.

Aujourd'hui, "un ancien néonazi connu" a été vu aux abords immédiats du palais de justice, au coeur d'Oslo. "Il est parti de lui-même", avant d'expliquer plus tard à la police qu'il s'était approché du lieu "par curiosité", selon l'officier. » | AFP | jeudi 19 avril 2012

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Breivik Resumes ‘Gruesome’ Attacks Testimony in Oslo

BBC: Anders Behring Breivik has admitted he "cannot conceive" what it is like for others to consider his "gruesome" acts, as his trial continues in Oslo.

He is on trial for killing 77 people and will be questioned over his gun rampage on Utoeya island, where the majority of his victims died.

Breivik, who admits the killings but denies criminal responsibility, again avoided his previous right-wing salute.

He says his targets were those responsible for "multiculturalism".

So far Breivik has provided a detailed account of the preparation and motivation for the attacks, when he car-bombed government buildings in Oslo, killing eight, and then drove to Utoeya island to shoot participants in a Labour Party youth camp, killing 69.

On Thursday, he horrified watching survivors and relatives of victims when he pledged he would do the same again.

But in his initial questioning on Friday, he said he "absolutely" understood why these were "exacting things for people to hear".

"It's about gruesome, barbaric acts and I cannot even start to conceive what it is like for others," he said.

"And I think I would not be able to carry out the court and police interviews. I have tried to de-emotionalise myself from this. I use a more technical language. If I did not, I do not think I would be able to talk about this at all." » | Friday, April 20, 2012

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Anders Behring Breivik Planned to Film Beheading of Former Prime Minister

THE GUARDIAN: • Gro Harlem Brundtland visited Utøya just before massacre • Anti-Muslim fanatic had planned to set off three car bombs

Anders Behring Breivik has told a court that his "primary target" in last year's terrorist attacks was a former prime minister whom he planned to behead, posting the footage on the internet – and that he anticipated all 564 people on Utøya would die in his "operation".

Giving evidence on the fourth day of his trial, the 33-year-old said he would have preferred to carry out three bomb attacks rather than target Utøya, where the Norwegian Labour party was holding its annual youth summer camp on 22 July last year. In the end, he went on the rampage on the island after planting one bomb in Oslo's government district, killing eight people.

Breivik claimed he was "forced" to carry out the massacre on the island, which left 69 dead, because Norwegian and EU regulations had made it difficult to acquire sufficient bomb-making equipment.

Bombing was much easier on the emotions than pulling a gun trigger, he said. "It's easy to press a button and detonate a bomb. It's very, very difficult to carry out something as barbaric as a firearm-based action."

To do so, he claimed, was not natural. "It is contrary to human nature to execute something like this," he said. "You have to work on yourself for a very long time to make yourself do this ... to hammer away at your emotions."

His original plan for the attack on Utøya was to time his arrival on the island with a visit from Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former Labour prime minister of Norway. Breivik told the court he planned to handcuff her, before "decapitating" her using a bayonet on his rifle and then filming the execution on an iPhone.

"The plan was to chop her head off with [the bayonet] while reading a text and then upload the film to the internet," he said. Brundtland was his main target, said Breivik, adding that he nonetheless expected everyone else on the island to die. "The objective was not to kill 69 people on Utøya. The objective was to kill all of them," he said, explaining that he planned to scare the campers into the water. » | Helen Pidd | Oslo | Thursday, April 19, 2012

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Anders Breivik's Trial

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Anders Breivik's Alleged Links to Far-right Network under Scrutiny
Norwegian prosecutors have been pressing Anders Breivik, who has admitted killing 77 people last year, for details of the ultra-nationalist group he says he belongs to. Whether such a group actually exists is expected to be important in determining whether Breivik is sane. Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull reports from Oslo, Norway.

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Anders Breivik 'Trained' for Shooting Attacks by Playing Call of Duty

THE GUARDIAN: Breivik tells court he practised his shot using a 'holographic aiming device' while playing video game

Anders Behring Breivik has described how he "trained" for the attacks he carried out in Norway last summer using the computer game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

The 33-year-old said he practised his shot using a "holographic aiming device" he had bought to use with the war simulation game, which he said is used by armies around the world for training.

"You develop target acquisition," he said. He used a similar device during the shooting attacks that left 69 dead at a political youth camp on the island of Utøya on 22 July.

Describing the game, he said: "It consists of many hundreds of different tasks and some of these tasks can be compared with an attack, for real. That's why it's used by many armies throughout the world. It's very good for acquiring experience related to sights systems."

He added: "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."

The prosecution asked Breivik if he was aware that "there are some bereaved people sitting here in the courtroom who lost children at Utøya". How do you think they are feeling, Breivik was asked. "They are probably reacting in a natural way, with disgust and horror," he said. » | Helen Pidd in Oslo | Thursday, April 19, 2012

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Breivik Wanted to Decapitate Former Norwegian Prime Minister, Kill Everyone on Utoya Island
THE WASHINGTON POST: OSLO, Norway — Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik planned to capture and decapitate former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland during his shooting massacre on Utoya island, he said Thursday.

Breivik told a court in Oslo that he planned to film the beheading and post the video on the Internet. Brundtland had already left the Labor Party’s youth camp on Utoya when Breivik arrived on July 22, after setting off a bomb in Oslo that killed eight people.

“The plan was to behead Gro Harlem Brundtland while it was being filmed,” Breivik told the court. » | Associated Press | Thursday, April 19, 2012

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Anders Behring Breivik originally planned three bomb targets: Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian mass killer, originally planned for a three-pronged bomb attack in Oslo that would have targeted the government district, the Labor Party's office and a third target, possible the royal palace, he told court. » | Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Trial – live »

LE FIGARO: Breivik dit s'être préparé au carnage avec des jeux video : Au quatrième jour de son procès, l'auteur du massacre de 77 personnes en juillet dernier en Norvège, a également expliqué que son objectif initial était de perpétrer trois attentats à la bombe suivis d'une fusillade. » | Par lefigaro.fr | jeudi 19 avril 2012

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Breivik Thought [He] Had Slim Chance to Survive Bombing
ASSOCIATED PRESS: OSLO, Norway (AP) — Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik thought he had only a slim chance of escaping Norway's capital alive after setting off a bomb in the government district on July 22, he told a court Thursday.

The anti-Muslim extremist said he had expected to be confronted by armed police when he left Oslo for a Labor Party youth camp on Utoya island, where he killed 69 people in a shooting massacre.

"I estimated the chances of survival as less than 5 percent," he said.

Police only cordoned off the area directly affected by the blast, and no one stopped Breivik as he drove to the island dressed in a homemade uniform and armed with a rifle and a handgun he said he had named after weapons used by Norse gods.

A total of 77 people were killed in the twin attacks.

On the fourth day of his trial, Breivik entered the Oslo district court without the clenched-fist salute he had used in previous hearings. His lawyers had advised him against it after complaints by survivors of the massacre and relatives of victims. » | Karl Ritter, Associated Press | Thursday, April 19, 2012

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Anders Behring Breivik Reflects Changing Face of Modern Far Right

THE GUARDIAN: Like many recent far-right activists, Breivik sees Islam as the main enemy and draws inspiration from the Serbian conflict

Anders Behring Breivik has no coherent ideology. Instead he appears to have picked bits of numerous rightwing philosophical strands and attempted to weave them together and present them as his own.

Breivik comes from a culturally conservative Christian background, and this has shaped much of his political outlook. Into this he has incorporated more traditional nationalist and racist ideologies and adopted the politics and language of the "counter-Jihad" movement which believes Islam is a major threat to western civilisation.

Immigration and multiculturalism are seen as the Trojan horses through which Islam is gaining a foothold in the west, and in targeting government buildings and the youth wing of Norway's ruling Labour Party he was attacking those who he blamed for the rise of Islam. » | Nick Lowles | Wednesday, April 18, 2012

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Breivik Says He Killed to 'Protect' Norway
Anders Behring Breivik has admitted he killed 77 people in bomb and shooting attacks in Norway last July, as he appeared for the second day of his trial in an Oslo court.

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Breivik Wants Death Penalty or Acquittal
ASSOCIATED PRESS: OSLO, Norway — Norway's prison terms are "pathetic," mass killer Anders Behring Breivik declared Wednesday in court, claiming the death penalty or a full acquittal were the "only logical outcomes" for his massacre of 77 people.

The right-wing fanatic said he doesn't fear death and that militant nationalists in Europe have a lot to learn from al-Qaida, including their methods and glorification of martyrdom.

"If I had feared death I would not have dared to carry out this operation," he said, referring to his July 22 attacks — a bombing in downtown Oslo that killed eight people and a shooting massacre at a youth camp outside the Norwegian capital that killed 69.

Breivik's comments, on the third day of his terror trial, came as he was pressed to give details on the anti-Muslim militant group he claims to belong to but which prosecutors say doesn't exist as he describes. Several unrelated groups claim part of that "Knights Templar" name.

The 33-year-old Norwegian acknowledged that his supposed crusader network is "not an organization in a conventional sense" but insisted that it is for real.

"It is not in my interest to shed light on details that could lead to arrests," he said refusing to comment on the group's alleged other members.

The issue is of key importance in determining Breivik's sanity, and whether he's sent to prison or compulsory psychiatric care for the bomb-and-shooting massacre that shocked Norway.

If found sane, Breivik could face a maximum 21-year prison sentence or an alternate custody arrangement that would keep him locked up as long as he is considered a menace to society. If declared insane he would be committed to psychiatric care for as long as he's considered ill.

"I view 21 years in prison as a pathetic sentence," Breivik said.

Asked by the prosecutor if he would rather have received a death penalty — which does not exist in current Norwegian law — he said that made sense. » | Karl Ritter, Associated Press | Wednesday, April 18, 2012


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Anders Behring Breivik Attacks Inspired by Serbian Nationalists, Court Hears
THE GUARDIAN: Gunman says he aspired to 'crusader' mentality of Serbs during Nato bombing of Kosovo as he is questioned on Knights Templar


Last summer's attacks on Norway were inspired by "Serb nationalists",Anders Behring Breivik has told a court in Olso as he attempted to distance himself from the "old school" of rightwing extremism propagated by the Nazis.

Giving evidence for a second day in his trial, the 33-year-old was questioned about the philosophy behind his deadly acts and the Knights Templar (KT) network of anti-Islamists he claims to have co-founded in London in 2002.

"As regards the identity [of KT]," he said on Wednesday, "the essence was to try to distance oneself sufficiently from national socialism because it was quite blood-stained. 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. One would chose a new identity."

He added that this identity "was, in a way, imported from Serbia". The Serbs who fought and died during the Nato bombing of Kosovo in 1999 had a "crusader" mentality to which he aspired, he said.

Questioned about his path to radicalisation, Breivik said the bombing of Serbs was "the straw that broke the camel's back" for militant nationalist like himself. » | Helen Pidd in Oslo | Wednesday, April 18, 2012

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Norway’s Breivik Obstinate as Prosecution Probes Militant Links
BLOOMBERG: Anders Behring Breivik, charged with killing 77 people in twin attacks in Norway last July, today rebuffed intense questioning about his militant links as prosecutors tried to prove that such networks don’t exist.

“Your intention is to try and sow doubt about whether the network exists,” the 33-year-old Norwegian said in court in Oslo today. “That is the purpose right? I hope that you will try to ridicule me less.”

Breivik, an Oslo native, killed 69 people at a Labor Party youth camp on the island of Utoeya and detonated a car bomb by the prime minister’s office, taking eight lives. He has been indicted on two terror charges as well as murder and if deemed sane may be sentenced to detention for a maximum of 21 years with the possibility of extensions.

“I don’t wish to discuss that,” Breivik repeated today as the prosecution questioned him on the validity of claims that he made his militant connections online, before travelling to Liberia to meet a Serbian national for information and training, and later to London to become part of a militant group.

“The police do not trust my statement,” Breivik said. “‘They do not think that there is a Serb. They do not think there is a person who was my English contact.” » | Kristin Myers | Wednesday, April 18, 2012

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Remorseless and Baffling, Breivik's Testimony Leaves Norway No Wiser

THE GUARDIAN: Gunman boasts of killing 77 young people on Utøya, calling it a 'spectacular political attack' and says 'I would do it again'

Tuesday was the day Norwegians hoped they might begin to understand how Anders Behring Breivik became the worst mass murderer in the country's recent history.

Almost nine months after killing 77 people in three brutal hours, Breivik took to the stand at Oslo central criminal court to describe what he called "the most sophisticated and spectacular political attack committed in Europe since the second world war".

Just when it seemed he was taking responsibility for his actions, or showing a hint of remorse, Breivik would deliver a callous endnote. "I know it is gruesome what I have done and I know that I have caused an incredible amount of pain to thousands of people," he said at one point, before adding: "But it was necessary." And: "I would do it again."

In a pre-prepared statement, which the court allowed him to read out for more than an hour – a highly unusual concession granted only because he refused to give evidence at all otherwise – he insisted it was "goodness, not evil" that had prompted him to act in order to prevent a "major civil war".

The persona that emerged during day two of Breivik's 10-week trial was a rambling, repetitive obsessive, fixated on a threat he never truly managed to articulate, but which involved "cultural Marxists", whom he claimed had destroyed Norway by using it as "a dumping ground for the surplus births of the third world".

Norwegians would be a minority in their own capital city within five to 10 years, he said, and he blamed liberal politicians for bringing about Norway's demise by allowing immigration as well as "feminism, quotas … transforming the church, schools". » | Helen Pidd in Oslo | Tuesday, April 17, 2012

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