‘Blameless’

While acknowledging that he did not “intend” to kill minors because he knew he would be criticized, Breivik added that as per his experience most members of the Norwegian Youth Wing were above 18 years of age, as “It is not desirable to focus on people under the age of 18.” 

He added that he thought about 25 percent were less than 18, nobody would be under 16 years of age, “and that it would be possible to distinguish them visually.” 

This turned out not to be the case as most of them had their backs turned towards him, and he claiming he shot and killed extremely young people because of this. 

When the prosecution questioned Brevik as to why he had chosen Utøya for the July 22 attacks, he said, “It was the most attractive political target at the time I was going to strike.” He added that he stood by what he had done in Utøya as there was no better political target.

‘’All forms of political activism that stand for multiculturalism and has leadership positions in organizations are legitimate targets. 44 of the 69 who perished on Utøya had leading positions in the AUF,” Breivik justified in court.

Breivik blamed authorities for “making” him shoot his victims because Norwegian and EU rules made it difficult to obtain explosives, “which is why militant actionists are forced to use firearms.”

He also alleged the European and Norwegian media are mainly at fault “because they deny us the opportunity to express ourselves.”

Bigger operation

The accused has earlier stated that he believed he could kill up to 700 people in his twin attacks. In court today, he revealed that his aim was “to kill everyone” on the island, planning to scare everyone out into the water.

“The goal was to use firearms as a detonator, and the water as a weapon of mass destruction. I calculated that people would drown (two did), and considered it unlikely that it would be possible to swim with the fear of death.”

Talking of the difficult Norwegian and EU explosives rules in relation to “having to shoot youths on” Utøya, he said, “I would have preferred a bomb, not a shooting incident, for it is incredibly difficult to implement. It is easy to push a button and trigger a bomb. It is very, very difficult to carry out a shooting operation.”

Breivik also stated he considered making three car bombs to hit other targets, including the palace and Oslo city hall, before deciding on the government headquarters. Two of these were to weigh one ton of explosives each and one 500 kilos.

He alleged time and difficulty building them, as well as “hitting innocents and civilians were reasons he abandoned these plans, however. 

Moreover, the accused said dropped his idea of using a so-called ‘dirty bomb’ to hit the traditional Labor 01 May workers day parade where “the entire cultural Marxist elite and all active communists in Norway would be gathered” because killing as many as 10,000 people would be “too steep”.

Execution

Breivik’s other targets included former Labour (H) Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and Labour Youth (AUF) leader Eskil Pedersen. Brundtland was due to give a speech on Utøya on 22 July but had left the island before Breivik arrived.

“The plan was to behead Gro Harlem Brundtland, while I was reading a text. It was to be filmed”, he told Oslo District Court, adding the plan was then to execute Eskil Pedersen as “he was target number two.”

Explaining "decapitation is a traditional European death penalty method, it is not only al-Qaeda who use it”, Breivik recounted he had brought along a bayonet, knife, and handcuffs for this purpose.

Prosecutor Svein Holden then asked for an early recess and the questioning had clearly affected those present in court. Breivik’s testimony concludes on Monday, but the trial is expected to last for 10 weeks.

---