Insane or not, Anders Behring Breivik killed in cold-blood, and the trial set to delve into his murderous undertakings will be a momentous test for Norway - and much more than a cold assessment of one man's psyche.
Geir Lippestad, the attorney representing Breivik in what's set to be the most spectacular trial in modern Norwegian history, was blunt in his ostensibly underestimated appraisal of what the proceedings would be like:
"It's going to be rather challenging," Lippestad told reporters in the run-up to the Monday opening, with reference to his client's intention to demonstrate his sanity to the five judges presiding over the case.
Lippestad told the Oslo-based Dagbladet newspaper that Breivik will claim that he acted in self-defense when he detonated a 950-kilogram bomb outside government square and then went on his horrific rampage on the Utoeya island just north of the capital.
The trial will be a challenge for more than just Lippestad
"Technically we have no other option … than to ask questions that will give him an opportunity to explain what he means. Our task as defenders is to call for an acquittal, according to his request, based on his claim of self defense," Lippestad explained.
From the perspective of the court, however, given that Breivik has already confessed to having committed the 77 murders, the issue at hand is whether the defendant can be held accountable for his actions.
But the case is about much more than Breivik's sanity. Viewed from the perspective of Norwegian society, which is known in Europe and around the world for its strict adherence to openness and democracy, the trial is much more a test of the very foundations on which the country stands.
'Nobody will be silenced'
Trials in Norway are, traditionally, public events. Any Norwegian citizen is free to sit in on the proceedings, as long as what's divulged represents no danger to national security or infringes on the emotions of the victims of sexual abuse.
"It's very rare for any judge to close the doors of the court room in this country," Frithjof Jacobsen, chief columnist for Verdens Gang (VG), said in an interview with DW, adding that the Breivik case - despite its extraordinariness - would be no different.
There has been much debate in Norway as to what extent journalists should be able to report on what's said at the trial, which will be off limits to the general public due to the massive attention the Breivik case has drawn.
Hundreds of journalists have been accredited to cover the proceedings, and all Norwegian newspapers and broadcasters have agreed that what's said in the courtroom can be quoted in Norwegian publications.
"There are those that say Breivik should be banned from speaking, because he's said himself that he wants to use the trial to spread his views. 'Why should he be rewarded,' they ask, and quite rightfully so … But on the other hand there are also many Norwegians who want to know exactly what happened, who want to hear this man talk with their own ears so that they can form their own opinion of whether or not he's insane," Jacobsen said.
After both sides have made their opening statements, the defense will be allowed to present its arguments for Breivik's sanity, and it is this portion of the trial that most Norwegians are worried about. The defense team has said that in addition to Breivik himself, some 30-40 extremists and Islamists would be called to testify, which include a jailed mullah and a notorious far-right blogger.
"Nobody will be silenced," said Jacobsen: "As horrible as it all may become, we are living in a time of peace and democracy, and this is the way it will be."
'No alternative'
This "horror," or the pain that's likely to be caused by the proceedings over the next 10 weeks, has also been recognized abroad. In this week's edition of Germany's Die Zeit newspaper, there's an article on the front page that calls on Norway to go through with the trial, to find "sense" in the insanity that's set to be addressed.
One can hear in the article the echoes of Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's stoic message to his people on the day of the attacks on July 22, 2011 when he said: "This will not change our democracy; we will answer with more democracy."
The Breivik trial will put Stoltenberg's words to the test
It would be wrong to say that Norway is looking forward to the Breivik trial - in fact if anything it appears that Norwegians are much awaiting its conclusion - but they are also determined to go through with it as if it were any other criminal proceeding.
"There's really no alternative," said BBC correspondent Lars Bevanger in an interview with DW: "It will be traumatic as the victims and their families will have to listen to what [Breivik] sees as his political platform - the reason their loved ones died."
"But if [the Norwegians] don't go through with this it would be to step away from normal procedure, which would allow this individual to change the course of democracy in this country. And this is expressly what he set out to achieve."
Author: Gabriel Borrud
Editor: Joanna Impey
Editor: Joanna Impey
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