The man who has confessed to the deadly attacks in Norway on July 22 is expected to claim insanity, but several experts say his long and detailed planning of the massacre shows he is not crazy and can go to prison.
Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old right-wing extremist, is set this week to begin undergoing a psychological examination to determine his mental state.
Two psychiatrists, Synne Serheim and Torgeir Husby, have been tasked by an Oslo court to present their opinions by Nov. 1, but the final decision on whether he can be tried for the slaughter of 77 people will be up to the court.
To be found unaccountable for the attacks — a bombing of government offices in Oslo and a shooting rampage at a youth summer camp — Breivik would according to Norwegian law need to be diagnosed as suffering from a psychosis, like schizophrenia or severe paranoia.
While Breivik’s lawyer Geir Lippestad has already suggested he is “insane,” psychiatry professor Tor Ketil Larsen stresses that proving a clinical psychosis is not enough in Norway to avoid prosecution.
“In addition to having a psychosis you must ‘lack the ability to realistically understand your own relationship to reality,’” according to Article 44 of the Norwegian Constitution, the University of Stavanger professor said in an e-mail.
That does not seem to apply to the suspect, who wrote a 1,500-page manifesto in perfect English ahead of the attack and appears intelligent and conscious of his actions.
Meanwhile, Larsen said that there could be a small chance of Breivik avoiding prison, since “one might wonder whether he suffers from schizophrenia with systematic delusions and so-called megalomania.”
“Approximately four percent of people with schizophrenia actually have a high IQ so it is not impossible for someone with severe schizophrenia to carry out complicated actions such as making a bomb or getting hold of money,” Larsen said.
COOL HEAD
He pointed out that “it is, however, unusual and one could argue that such a systematic planning is not expected for people who are not legally responsible according to Article 44.”
Randi Rosenqvist, another psychiatry expert, agreed.
Regardless of how crazy the attacks might seem to the general public, “he kept his head too cool to have acted under a psychotic impulse,” she told the Dagbladet daily, stressing however that an in-depth evaluation was needed before reaching any clear conclusions.
Several psychiatrists said Breivik had narcissistic and megalomaniac tendencies, visible in the photographs the suspect posted of himself on the Internet wearing different uniforms and in his manifesto and claims that he was on a “mission.”
“I think we agree he has a narcissistic personality disorder and he has also very grand views and thoughts about himself,” said retired hospital psychiatrist Per Boerre Huseboe, who continues to work as a court expert.
‘POSSIBLE’ PSYCHOSIS
Huseboe, meanwhile, said he thought it was “possible” the 32-year-old was psychotic in light of his lack of emotions as he for an hour-and-a-half hunted down and shot and killed 69 people — most of them teenagers — on the Utoeya island near Oslo.
If Breivik actually is so mentally ill that he cannot be held accountable for his actions, how did his illness go undetected for so long?
According to Larsen, it is possible in theory at least “to live in a society for years with psychosis without being detected for treatment.”
And this would certainly be possible in the case of Breivik since “he has been socially isolated for a long time and seems to have little contact with family and few close friends,” Larsen said.
Lippestad insisted last week that his client lived in “his bubble,” with “his own understanding of reality.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in