Showing posts with label suspect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suspect. Show all posts

Friday, July 29, 2011

Norway Terror Attack Suspect Faces Second Interrogation

The suspect - Anders Behring Breivik


CNN - Police are preparing to interview Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect in last week's terrorist attacks in Norway, for a second time on Friday.


Anders Behring Breivik is the suspect for the twin terror attacks in Norway. He's suspected of detonating a bomb outside governments buildings and opening fire at summer camp. Breivik appeared in court on Monday.


Breivik, who is being kept in solitary confinement at Ila Prison, near Oslo, was last interviewed Saturday, a day after a bomb blast outside government buildings in the Norwegian capital and a mass shooting on the island of Utoya claimed at least 76 lives. The prison held Nazi prisoners during World War II. "We are giving him pillow, sheet and shelter for a few weeks," the prison governor said.


Police attorney Pal-Frederick Hjort Kraby said police had since gained a considerable amount of new information and were ready to question Breivik again at police headquarters. He is likely to face more interrogations in the coming weeks.


Meanwhile, the search for more victims of Friday's shooting rampage on Utoya island has ended, Police Chief Johan Fredriksen said Thursday. However, later in the day, the police website said the search in the water around the island was ongoing. More than 50 investigators remained on the island and will likely remain there for several more weeks, officials said.


A key question is whether Breivik acted alone. "At this moment in time we don't think there are more people involved in this action, and we don't know whether there are more bombs," said Janne Kristiansen, director of the Norwegian intelligence police. But she downplayed the possibility of further carnage. "We think, more than likely, he has been on his own and nothing is going to happen here," she said. "So people should go on living their lives."


Technicians and explosives experts were still trying to figure out how big the bomb was that rocked a government building in downtown Oslo, killing eight people. Authorities had not yet determined whether the building could be restored or would need to be rebuilt, Kristiansen said.


She said Breivik acted lawfully during his preparations, registering his weapons and using his farm as a front to collect the fertilizer that powered the bomb. His meticulousness extended to his communications with others, even in his Internet messages, which were "very moderate," she said. 
"He has been what we call a lone wolf," she added. "With a lone wolf, they always operate alone, having no accomplices anywhere, and this is, obviously, what he has done."
But, she added, "We believe that he might have had contacts in the rest of the world and we're investigating this."


His primary goal: "The focus from the world press, which he now has," Kristiansen said. "He's totally evil, and he's using us, and he's using you -- especially the media -- to bring forward his voice."


Sixty-eight people are confirmed dead in the attack on the island, where a summer camp for the Labour Party's youth movement was taking place. As of Thursday, authorities had released the identities of 41 of the dead.


Breivik has admitted carrying out the bombing in Oslo, in which eight people died, and the shootings on Utoya, his lawyer and a judge have said. He has also pleaded not guilty.


He currently has contact only with his lawyer and the prison staff who take him food, Kraby said. The investigation is complex and it will likely be months before Breivik comes to trial, the lawyer added.


The suspect had spent a lot of time and money preparing for the attacks, the lawyer said, so it was important to be careful.


A government spokesman on the Justice Committee, Jan Bohler, predicted Breivik would receive an unconditional sentence, meaning one that would extend well beyond the theoretical maximum of 21 years set by Norwegian law, thereby ensuring he does not ever get out of prison. Norway does not have the death penalty.



Monday, July 25, 2011

The Suspect for the Terror Attacks in Norway to Appear in Court

Anders Behring Breivik - the Norway terror attacks suspect

CNN - A man who authorities say confessed to Norway's terror attacks is expected to make his first court appearance Monday, where he says he wants to "explain himself," according to his attorney.



The court appearance comes the same day the Norwegian government called for a national moment of silence, ordering trains halted as part of a nationwide observance to remember the victims of Friday's bombing in downtown Oslo and shooting at a political youth retreat on Utoya island.


Police identified the suspect Monday as Anders Behring Breivik, just hours before he was to appear in court.


Attorney Geir Lippestad, who said he represented Breivik, told Norwegian TV2 that the suspect feels the terrorist attacks were "horrible," but "in his head (they) were necessary."


Police will ask the court to close the hearing because investigators have not ruled out that others were involved. There is a concern the suspect could try to send messages to others..


More than 60,000 people joined a Facebook page, titled "Shut the courtroom doors on Monday," urging the court to close the hearing.


Whether the suspect will be allowed to address the Norwegian court and under what, if any, circumstances are not immediately known.


Anders Behring Breivik has been charged with two acts of terror, one for the bombing and one for the mass shooting, Holtaas said.


Breivik, the 32-year-old Norwegian, has told investigators he acted alone and was not aided in the planning, acting National Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim told reporters Sunday. But authorities have not ruled out that others may have been involved or helped him along the way, he said.


Sponheim said there has been "no progress" in ascertaining what the suspect's motive might have been. But he said that investigators were studying a 1,500-page manifesto that authorities believe was published online the day of the attack.


The suspect told investigators during interviews that he belonged to an international order, The Knights Templar, according to Norwegian newspaper VG, which cited unnamed sources. He described this order as an armed, Christian, order, fighting to rid the West of Islamic suppression, the newspaper said. He also told investigators he had been in contact with like-minded individuals and said he counts himself as a representative of this order, it said.


In the manifesto, there are photographs of Breivik wearing what appears to be a military uniform that features an altered U.S. Marine Corps dress jacket with Knights Templar medals. The manifesto rants against Muslims and their growing presence in Europe and calls for a European civil war to overthrow governments, end multiculturalism and execute "cultural Marxists."


Authorities allege that Breivik killed seven people Friday by setting off a car bomb in downtown Oslo that targeted government buildings, then traveled 20 miles to Utoya island and killed at least 86 teens and young adults in an ambush at a political youth retreat.


The suspect was carrying a considerable amount of ammunition when he surrendered to authorities, Sponheim told reporters.


Police said Sunday that the area around the blast site would remain cordoned off, but members of the public in the area were not at risk.