`Norway gunman wants Japanese psychiatrist`

The man behind the deadly twin attacks in Norway on July 22 wants a Japanese psychiatrist to carry out his psychological evaluation, his lawyer was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Oslo: The man behind the deadly twin
attacks in Norway on July 22 wants a Japanese psychiatrist to
carry out his psychological evaluation, his lawyer was quoted
as saying on Tuesday.
"My client has expressed a wish for a Japanese expert.
This wish has to do with the concept of honour. He believes
that a Japanese person will understand him better than someone
from Europe," defence lawyer Geir Lippestad told financial
daily Dagens Naeringsliv.

Two Norwegian psychiatrists have been tasked with
evaluating the mental state of 32-year-old rightwing extremist
and confessed killer Anders Behring Breivik.

They are set to make their recommendation by November
1 of whether he is sane enough to be tried for the attacks
that killed 77 people and injured dozens of others.

"He has not said anything to me about refusing to talk
to them," Lippestad stressed in the Dagens Naeringsliv
interview.

Thomas Hegghammer, a Norwegian expert on terrorism and
Islamic extremism, told AFP in a recent interview that Behring
Breivik`s 1,500-page manifesto detailing his "crusade" against
a "Muslim invasion" of Europe, showed he was fascinated by the
Japanese and Korean cultures.
Based on the initial information available about
Behring Breivik`s reasoning and personality, several
psychiatrists told AFP he was probably sane enough to be held
accountable for his actions, meaning he could be tried and
sentenced to prison instead of being locked up in a mental
institution.

According to existing laws, he could be sentenced to
up to 21 years behind bars if found guilty of "terrorism,"
although the sentence could be stretched to 30 years if he is
also found guilty of "crimes against humanity."

On the afternoon of July 22, Behring Breivik first
bombed government offices in Oslo, killing eight people,
before going on an 80-minute shooting rampage on the nearby
island of Utoeya, where the ruling Labour Party was holding a
youth summer camp, killing another 69 people, most of them
teenagers.

PTI

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