Psychiatrists to report on Norway killer

2
138

Norwegian prosecutors have appointed two psychiatrists to assess the mental health of Anders Behring Breivik, the gunman who has admitted carrying out the July 22 attacks, police said Friday.
The experts will determine if he is criminally responsible and deliver their report “by November 1,” prosecutor Paal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby told reporters after the 32-year-old gunman was questioned by investigators for a second time.
Behring Breivik has acknowledged responsibility for the bombing and shooting spree that killed 76 people, but did not accept criminal responsibility, and did not plead guilty during a first court hearing this week.
Asked if Behring Breivik was legally insane, Hjort Kraby replied: “We will have to let the professionals decide,” adding, “they face a lot of work and when they are finished we will know much more.”
He insisted it was “way too soon” to make an assessment crucial in determining whether Behring Breivik can be brought to trial next year, as prosecutors want.
Hjort Kraby meanwhile said Friday’s interrogation at police headquarters was focused on reviewing the detailed transcript of his previous interview last Saturday.
“He has to go through it and say if he agrees and there will be no confrontation,” Hjort Kraby said.
“We will go through his last interview, which was very long it was more than 50 pages so probably no new questions — that will be for the next interview,” which he said would be held “sometime next week.”
Police on Thursday cited new leads received over recent days that they wanted to put to the subject.
The prosecutor said Behring Breivik’s demeanour during the first hours of his interrogation on Friday was considered broadly similar to that encountered on Saturday, on that occasion described as cold.
Another official, John Frederiksen, said all the bodies found in Oslo and on Utoeya island had been identified and that police were in contact with the families.
He said the death toll — 68 in shootings on Utoeya and eight in a bombing in Oslo — remained “unchanged” as the search went on for those unaccounted for after the two attacks.

2 COMMENTS

Comments are closed.