Breivik smirks as expert testfies on his mental health
  • 12 years ago
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik smirked as a top expert testified Friday that he is suffering from development and neuropsychiatric disorders but is not a paranoid schizophrenic.

Breivik, on trial for the murder of 77 people last July, is facing scrutiny over his mental health as the court seeks to determine whether he was sane at the time of his bombing and gun rampage.

One team of experts concluded he was psychotic, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, while another came to the opposite conclusion, leaving the five judge-panel to decide.

Ulrik Frederick Malt, a professor at the University of Oslo, challenged the first report arguing he finds no evidence of paranoid schizophrenia.

"Let's talk about the moment on Utoeya when Breivik decided to stop the killing. At that point he calls the police switchboard and says 'good day, my name is Anders Behring Breivik of the Norwegian anti-communist resistance movement: I'm currently on Utoeya and I want to turn myself in',"Frederick told the latest hearing in Breivik's ten-week trial.

Breivik smirked as he listened to the professor's testimony.

"It seems like, it's plausible, that he might suffer from Asperger, Tourette and possibly also a narcissistic personality disorder," Frederick said.

Breivik, who watched much of the testimony with an uncomfortable smile, interrupted, calling Malt's testimony "insulting" and the court procedure which forced him to listen quietly "ridiculous".

Breivik has called the prospect of being declared insane "worse than death".

He killed eight people on July 22 with a fertilizer bomb at government headquarters, then gunned down 69, mostly teenagers, at the ruling Labor Party's summer camp, shooting victims in the head from close range. He carried out the attacks claiming to be a commander in the Knights Templar group, an organization prosecutors say existed only in Breivik's head.

Whatever the eventual ruling, Breivik is likely to spend the rest of his life in a prison on the outskirts of Oslo.

If found sane, he faces a 21-year sentence with the possibility of indefinite extensions as long as he is deemed to pose a danger to society. If found insane, he will probably be moved to another area of his prison.