Oslo: An Oslo court on Friday ordered a new
psychiatric evaluation of Anders Behring Breivik, who killed
77 people in twin attacks in July, after an earlier and widely
contested test found him criminally insane.
"Due to the gravity of this case, the criminal
responsibility (of Behring Breivik) must be examined again,"
Oslo District Court judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen told a news
conference.
Two new experts, Agnar Aspaas and Terje Toerrisen, were
named to evaluate the 32-year-old rightwing extremist`s
sanity.
In late November, two court-appointed psychiatrists
concluded that Behring Breivik was suffering from paranoid
schizophrenia and should be considered criminally insane and
therefore not accountable for his actions.
If the finding is confirmed, Behring Breivik, who has
confessed to carrying out the deadliest massacre on Norwegian
soil since World War II, would likely be sentenced to
psychiatric care in a closed ward instead of prison.
The initial report, later supported by an expert panel,
was controversial in Norway, with critics pointing to the
years of detailed planning Behring Breivik had put in and cool
and methodic execution of the massacre.
On July 22, Behring Breivik first set off a car bomb
outside government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people.
He then went to Utoeya, some 40 kilometres northwest of
Oslo, and, dressed as a police officer, spent more than an
hour methodically shooting and killing another 69 people,
mainly teens, attending a summer camp hosted by the ruling
Labour Party`s youth wing.
PTI
