Norway massacre gunman has solitary confinement extended

The Oslo District Court says Anders Behring Breivik will continue to be kept in complete isolation by police partly for fear of him tampering with evidence and contacting possible accomplices. Breivik has admitted the July 22 killings with a lorry bomb in Oslo and a shooting rampage on an island.

If found guilty on terrorism charges, he could be sentenced to 21 years in prison. An alternative arrangement, if he is considered an continuing danger to the public, could keep him behind bars indefinitely.

Breivik appeared at the closed hearing at Oslo District Court to decide on the request to extend the time period under heavy police protection and in a dark suit, his request to wear a long black dinner jacket having been rejected as “unnecessarily disturbing and provocative”.

His lawyer Geir Lippestad said afterwards he showed no remorse. “In his explanations he says these acts were gruesome, but necessary, and he hasn’t changed his view on that.

Sigurd Klomsaet, a lawyer for some of the victims, said: “His comprehension for the pain and the hurt he has caused others is completely absent. Instead, he is fully occupied with his own situation.”

Breivik denies criminal guilt because he believes the massacre was necessary to save Norway, an attempt at cultural revolution to purge Europe of Muslims and to punish politicians for multiculturalism. The hearing came as survivors, relatives and close friends of the victims began visiting Utoya to grieve at the island massacre site. Some 1,500 people are expected over the two-day visit.