A WEEK after Norway’s twin attacks, self-confessed perpetrator Anders Behring Breivik today faces a second day of interrogation by police in Oslo.
With some victims still missing, police ended their search for bodies on Utoeya island yesterday, the scene of Breivik’s 90-minute shooting spree, to concentrate on the surrounding waters of Tyrifjord lake.
Prosecutors have said the complicated nature of Breivik’s attack meant their indictment “will not be ready before the end of the year”.
“Out of respect for the dead and their relatives, the perpetrator will have to give an account of himself for each and every killing,” said chief prosecutor Tor Aksel Busch. “We hope that we can conduct the trial in the course of next year.”
Dressed as a policeman and armed with a pistol and semi-automatic rifle, Breivik carried out the shooting on Utoeya, hours after detonating a bomb that destroyed swathes of Oslo’s government quarter.
Despite confessing to planning and carrying out the attacks, he has pleaded not guilty to charges under Norway’s anti-terrorism code, ensuring a lengthy trial.
Breivik faces a maximum sentence of 21 years – unless he is charged with crimes against humanity, under consideration by prosecutors, which would raise the maximum sentence to 30 years.
After that he could still be kept behind bars if considered a threat to the public.
After initial claims that he acted alone, Breivik told a remand judge on Monday that he was part of a wider cell – a claim investigators have now discounted.
Nevertheless, police spokesman Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said that, as with Monday’s remand trial, future court appearances will be closed as a security measure, to prevent Breivik “sending coded messages” to associates.
Norwegian billionaire Petter Stordalen has announced plans to redevelop the island, owned by the ruling Labour Party, as an “oasis for a new political enlightenment”.
Irish singer Chris de Burgh has thrown his weight behind the campaign. “Chris De Burgh called me last night and said, ‘how can I help, Petter? I am more than willing to give concerts, I have always had tremendous support from the people of Norway’,” Mr Stordalen, one of Norway’s richest men, told the AFP news agency.