Anders Breivik trial gets underway in Norway as defendant claims self-defense (+video)

By Tom A. Peter, Correspondent / April 16, 2012

Today Norway opened the trial of Anders Behring Breivik, the man responsible for a bombing and shooting last summer that left 77 people dead.

Mr. Breivik entered a not guilty plea, saying that he admitted to the acts, but did not take criminal responsibility for them.

“I acknowledge the acts, but not criminal guilt and I claim self-defense,” Breivik told the court, according to The Telegraph. “I don't recognize Norwegian courts because you get your mandate from the Norwegian political parties who support multiculturalism.”

The key thing for the court to determine now is whether Breivik is sane, which will decide whether he receives psychiatric care or is sent to prison. Presently, it remains unclear how the court will diagnose his mental condition. A first evaluation declared him a paranoid schizophrenic, but a second evaluation deemed him sane.

Communicating through his attorneys and an open letter, Breivik has attested to his own sanity, saying that confinement to a psychiatric ward would be “worse than death,” reports Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

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Anders Breivik trial gets underway in Norway as defendant claims self-defense (+video)

Anders Breivik admitted to July 2011 attacks in Norway that killed more than 70 people, but did not take criminal responsibility for them.