Man throws shoe at mass killer Anders Behring Breivik in Norway trial
Anders Behring Breivik has confessed to the July 22 attacks but denies criminal guilt, accusing his victims of being “traitors” for embracing immigration laws he says will allow the Islamic colonization of Norway.
A relative of one of the 69 victims of Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik threw a shoe at the defendant on Friday, screaming “go to hell, go to hell, you killed my brother” and provoking spontaneous applause in the courtroom, in the first public outburst since Breivik’s trial began 17 days ago in the capital, Oslo.
The black shoe hit Breivik’s defence lawyer, Vibeke Hein Baera, leading to a temporary suspension of proceedings. The attacker, a man of Iraqi origin, was quickly restrained by security staff and escorted out of the courtroom as he continued to shout at Breivik in English, according to the Agence France Presse.
When the trial resumed a few minutes later, Breivik addressed the onlookers, saying: “If someone wants to throw something at me, do it at me while I’m entering or leaving, and not at my lawyer,” The Daily Telegraph reports.
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Breivik admits killing 69 people at a Labor Party summer camp on the island of Utoeya and eight others in a bomb attack in Oslo on July 22, 2011, but denies criminal responsibility, according to the BBC.
The 33-year-old says he was fighting to protect Norway from immigration and multiculturalism. His trial hinges on whether the Oslo court finds him sane or not, as this could determine whether he is sent to jail or to a psychiatric institution if he is found guilty.
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