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BREIVIK

Breivik to appeal call for new psychiatric exam

The lawyer of the gunman who killed 77 people in twin attacks in Norway said on Wednesday he would appeal a court order for a new psychiatric exam of his client, who has already been found criminally insane.

Breivik to appeal call for new psychiatric exam
Photo: abcnyheter.no/Politiet

"We think there have been procedural errors since the court had, in our opinion, undue access to medical documents that should have been classified as confidential," Geir Lippestad, the lawyer for Anders Behring Breivik, told daily Dagbladet.

Lippestad, who confirmed the comments to AFP, was referring to notes, supposedly confidential, written by three psychologists and a psychiatrist tasked with monitoring Behring Breivik in prison.

In the notes revealed by Norwegian media the specialists said they saw no signs of the paranoid schizophrenia diagnosed late last year by two psychiatrists appointed by the Oslo court to assess his mental state.

The court last week ordered a second psychiatric assessment of the32-year-old right-wing extremist, following calls from some plaintiffs.

The judges said a second exam was necessary due to the differing opinions on the mental health of Behring Breivik, who went on his deadly rampage in July.

The two new experts, with whom Behring Breivik has already said he will not cooperate, are expected to deliver their assessment before the start of the trial scheduled for April 16th.

The first evaluation in November sparked controversy when it concluded that he was criminally insane and therefore not accountable for his actions.

If that conclusion is confirmed, the man who has confessed to carrying out the deadliest massacre on Norwegian soil since World War II would likely be sentenced to a closed psychiatric ward instead of prison.

Behring Breivik, who claimed to be on a crusade against multi-culturalism and the "Muslim invasion" of Europe, first set off a car bomb outside government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people.

He then went to Utøya island near Oslo, and, dressed as a police officer, spent more than an hour shooting and killing another 69 people, mainly teenagers, attending a summer camp.

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BREIVIK

Norway mosque shooter ‘has admitted the facts’: Police

A Norwegian man suspected of killing his step sister and opening fire in a mosque near Oslo last weekend, has admitted to the crimes though he has not officially entered a plea, police said on Friday.

Norway mosque shooter 'has admitted the facts': Police
Philip Manshaus appears in court on August 12. Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB Scanpix / AFP
Philip Manshaus, 21, was remanded in custody Monday, suspected of murder and a “terrorist act” that police say he filmed himself committing.
   
Answering police questions on Friday, “the suspect admits the facts but has not taken a formal position as to the charges,” Oslo police official Pal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said in a statement.
   
Manshaus is suspected of murdering his 17-year-old step sister Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, before entering the Al-Noor mosque in an affluent Oslo suburb and opening fire before he was overpowered by a 65-year-old man.
   
Just three worshippers were in the mosque at the time, and there were no serious injuries.
   
Manshaus appeared in court this week with two black eyes and scrapes and bruises to his face, neck and hands.
   
Police have said he has “extreme right views” and “xenophobic positions” and that he had filmed the mosque attack with a camera mounted on a helmet. He had initially denied the accusations.
   
The incident came amid a rise in white supremacy attacks around the world, including the recent El Paso massacre in the United States.
   
Norway witnessed one of the worst-ever attacks by a rightwing extremist in July 2011, when Anders Behring Breivik, who said he feared a “Muslim invasion”, killed 77 people in a truck bomb blast near government offices in Oslo and a shooting spree at a Labour Party youth camp on the island of Utøya.