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BREIVIK

Experts defend Breivik schizophrenia diagnosis

Two experts who examined Anders Behring Breivik defended on Thursday their diagnosis that the Norwegian self-confessed mass killer is psychotic and therefore not criminally responsible for his actions.

Torgeir Husby and Synne Sørheim have faced criticism for diagnosing the 33-year-old Breivik last year with paranoid schizophrenia as many in Norway want him found sane and therefore responsible for his actions.

Having observed Breivik since the April 16 start of his trial, the pair said they stood by their initial diagnosis.

"He thinks he's going to save us all from our losing fight in the battle between good and evil. In combat, he thinks he has responsibility and a mission consistent with deciding who has the right to live or die," Sørheim told the Oslo court.

The question of Breivik's sanity is key to his trial. Although judges are certain to find him guilty, they must decide if he was criminally sane or not when he massacred 77 people in a shooting spree and a bomb attack last July.

Husby and Sørheim said Breivik believes he is a commander with the "Knights Templar", a group whose existence Norwegian police have not proven.

The experts made their initial diagnosis in November, following 13 interviews with Breivik. Their conclusion shocked some in Norway who saw his meticulous planning of the July 22nd attacks as evidence he was not psychotic.

Norwegian authorities commissioned a second psychiatric report that found Breivik to have a narcissistic personality disorder, but no sign of psychosis.  

Breivik, who has admitted the killings, wants to prove his sanity because he thinks more people would give credence to his right-wing extremist ideology.

Judges are expected to rule on the matter either July 20th or August 24th.

If he is found sane, he faces a 21-year jail term which could be extended indefinitely if he is still considered a threat to society. If he is found insane, he could receive closed psychiatric care, possibly for life.

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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.