OSLO — Self-confessed Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik wants to wear a uniform to what he hopes will be a public court appearance in Oslo on Monday, AFP reported, as European police agencies join forces to investigate his links to far-right organizations across the continent.
Monday’s hearing, set for 1:00pm local time, will come an hour after Norwegians observe a minute of silence to commemorate those who died and were injured in Friday’s bombing near government buildings in the country’s capital and the gun massacre at an Utoya island youth camp that followed.
The death toll for the attacks rose to 93 Sunday, after one of the Utoya island victims died in a hospital. A further 66 were seriously injured after the Utoya gun rampage while 30 people were hurt in the earlier bomb attack.
Church services were held in honor of the victims Sunday.
Meanwhile police were focusing on Breivik’s motives — to be revealed by the man himself in court, according to his lawyer — and his claims of ties to British and European far-right movements.
“He has two wishes: the first is that there is a public hearing and the second is that he is allowed to wear a uniform,” Breivik’s lawyer Geir Lippestad told the NRK television channel late Sunday, according to AFP.
“I don’t know what uniform,” he said, adding that the 32-year-old wanted to explain why he unleashed the carnage and “wants to do it publicly.”
A judge will be charged with making the final decision as to whether Breivik’s court appearance is public or behind closed doors.
Under Norwegian law, a judge can order his detention for up to four weeks as the investigation continues. Norway has no death penalty and the maximum prison sentence that Breivik faces is 21 years — a sentence facing rising criticism, according to AFP, as Norwegians demand harsher punishment.
Oslo acting police chief Sveinung Sponheim said Sunday that Breivik, who remains named by media only, has “acknowledged responsibility for both incidents but has not accepted that he is guilty of breaking the law.”
“He will explain this later,” Sponheim said at a Sunday news conference.
European law enforcement agency Europol is drafting in senior counter terrorism experts from a number of European countries to work in its headquarters in The Hague, Sky News reported late Sunday.
Rob Wainwright, Europol’s director of operations, admitted the attacks had taken authorities by surprise but denied that was because resources were being channeled into fighting a perceived threat from Islamic extremists.
“It has taken a lot of people by surprise. We’ve been monitoring the right-wing extremists in Europe for many years,” Wainwright said.
“There is an active scene but until now there has been a fairly low intensity level of violence.”
Britain has sent a police officer to liaise with Norwegian investigators, The (London) Times reported, after it emerged Breivik posted a 1,518-page manifesto on the internet before the attack, in which he claimed membership of a secret society set up in London in 2002 to wage an anti-Muslim crusade.
He also claimed to have made contact with the right-wing English Defence League and suggested that the group destroy a British nuclear power plant.
