Breivik’s friends say he displayed no signs of mental illness

Breivik’ friends say he displayed no signs of mental illness and seemed normal. Aftenposten writes that the police have interviewed more than twenty of Breivik’s friends and family members and they all give a completely different picture of him than the court-appointed psychiatrists. While the psychiatrists describe Breivik as suffering from complete function loss, Brevik’s friends told police that Breivik took part in cabin trips, family dinners, parties with friends and café outings.

Three of his friends arranged a farewell party for him before he moved to the farm that he rented in the spring of 2011. One friend explained that everything seemed normal about him, and there was a good atmosphere at the party. The friend’s only concern was the fact that Breivik was using anabolic steroids. Breivik’s best friend describes him as resourceful, and very, very stubborn, but caring and very considerate towards those closest to him. According to the friend, Breivik is also a person who has a high tolerance level for other types of people.

When asked whether Breivik seemed depressed, the friend says Breivik isolated himself, but that this was not because he was depressed. The friend believes the isolation was to protect his closest friends and family, “not to drag them into this case.”

Google translation:

His friends saw no signs of illness
06.jan.2012

None of the more than 20 friends and family members who met the terror accused in recent years prior to 22 July-attacks mean “he was unable to take care of himself”, as the two expert psychiatrists conclude….

Police interviews show that his manifesto, that those who know him refer to as “book”, and his extreme views, was a frequently discussed topic, both in family dinners, friend requests, and in other contexts. Most knew that he had extremist views, and was obsessed by the idea that Islam conquered Europe. But nobody knew how he had intended “to promote” the book.

A 35-year-old friend says that Behring Breivik sometimes started with a long account of the Muslims had nothing to do in Europe.

“He tried to convert us (friends, editor). Get us to understand how things were….”

“He told me he wrote a book about Islamic takeover of Europe,” says best friend. Most knew that the accused spent most of their time working on this book….

Original article: Vennene hans så ingen sykdomstegn

Related post: Former head of Court Medical Commission says Breivik not psychotic

Former head of Court Medical Commission says Breivik not psychotic

Norwegian television station, TV2, reports that Randi Rosenqvist, former head of the Court Medical Commission that reviews all reports filed by court-appointed psychiatrists, has been contracted by Ila Prison to evaluate whether solitary confinement affected Anders Behring Breivik’s mental health. Rosenqvist was head of the Court Medical Commission from 1998 to 2009.

Rosenqvist presented three memos to Ila Prison. The first was based upon information provided by the prison and media, and the other two are based on two meetings she had with Breivik. In none of the memos does Rosenqvist report any signs of psychosis in Breivik.

In an interview with the German news magazine, Der Spiegel, Rosenquist expressed doubt about the diagnosis assigned by the court-appointed psychiatrists. “What I maintain is that I am concerned that the court-appointed psychiatrists have not considered other possible diagnoses in the spectrum of personality disorders,” she said to TV2.

Google translation:

Former commission chairman: “Breivik is not psychotic”
05.01.2012

The former, longtime leader of the forensic commission was commissioned by Ila prison written three notes about Anders Behring Breivik to assess his mental health has been affected by the detention in complete isolation in prison….

Not in connection with any of the reports is the experienced psychiatrist signs of psychosis in Breivik….

Original article: Tidligere kommisjonsleder: – Breivik er ikke psykotisk

Related post: 129 plaintiffs request new psychiatric evaluation of Breivik

129 plaintiffs request new psychiatric evaluation of Breivik

Thirty-five lawyers representing 129 of the plaintiffs have filed, or intend to file, requests for new psychiatric experts to be appointed by the court, according to Verdens Gang (VG). Some have requested a new psychiatric evaluation of Breivik, while others request that he be hospitalized for evaluation.

Google translation:

129 terror victims require new Breivik assessment
05.01.12

35 plaintiff’s lawyers have been delivered or will deliver petitions on behalf of at least 129 clients who were affected 22 July – either because they were Utøya or government building, or that their loved ones died….

Terror victims require two different reports. More wishes to be appointed new legal psychiatrists, who is conducting a new forensic psychiatric assessment, while others believe Breivik rather should be entered for around-the-clock observation….

Original article: 129 terrorofre krever ny Breivik-vurdering
_____

However, Breivik will refuse to talk to new psychiatric experts if appointed.

Google translation:

Breivik refuses to talk to several experts
05.01.12

If the appointed new legal psychiatrists will Anders Behring Breivik (32) refuse to meet them….

There is no statutory authority which can force the mass murderer to talk to any new experts….

“He is very clear on that he will not talk to more psychiatric experts”, laywer Geir Lippestad says to VG.

Original article: Breivik nekter å snakke med flere sakkyndige

Related post: Court to determine Breivik legal accountability

Court to determine Breivik legal accountability

While some of the plaintiffs have disputed the official psychiatric evaluation of Anders Behring Breivik and have called for a new evaluation, well known Norwegian lawyer, Harald Stabell, points out that it is the court that is ultimately responsible for determining Breivik’s legal accountability, not the psychiatrists.

The Oslo District Court (Tingrett) will probably decide by the middle of January whether or not it wishes Breivik to have a new psychiatric evaluation says PR spokesperson, Irene Ramm, to NRK.

Google translation:

“The court has an independent duty to consider new experts”
01/04/2012

The experienced criminal lawyer explains that the Oslo District Court still may end up asking for new experts to make a new declaration of Breivik’s mental health.

“Although neither the prosecution or the accused would like additional experts are right freely to appoint new legal psychiatrists. The court has an independent duty to have the matter best informed,” said Stabell to NRK….

“It is important to emphasize that it is the court that ultimately decides this question. The court may wind up concluding that Breivik has presented himself in such a manner during the ten weeks in court [i.e. during the trial] that convinces them that he is not insane,” said Stabell….

Original article: – Retten har en selvstendig plikt til å vurdere nye sakkyndige

Related post: Prosecutors reject proposal for new psychiatric experts

Prosecutors reject proposal for new psychiatric experts

The public prosecutors in the Anders Behring Breivik case have reject proposals for the appointment of new psychiatric experts. They point out that since the current psychiatric report produced by court-appointed psychiatrists has been unamimously apppproved by the Court Medical Commission, and since a fundamental principle in Norwegian criminal law is that any reasonable doubt shall benefit the accused, a new report could not, in and of itself, form the basis for determining legal responsibility. In other words, the existing report would continue to cast doubt on Breivik’s accountability for his actions.

Google translate:

Prosecutors do not want new Breivik assessment
04.01.2012

But will not oppose the new experts, if the court wishes.

Public prosecutors Svein Holden and Inga Bejer Engh has today submitted its report to the Oslo District Court whether to conduct a new forensic psychiatric evaluation of Anders Behring Breivik or not.

They believe there is no need for the appointment of new experts. Nor Breivik himself or his defenders want new experts, and prosecutors believe the court should emphasize this….

In his letter to the court says prosecutors that there is a fundamental principle of Norwegian criminal law that reasonable doubt should be accused as a whole. This principle also applies when considering whether sane….

“The doubt which has now been established, must then be removed. So time will tell if it can happen. It will have to be fairly convincing about why both Huseby, Sørheim and the Commission has made ​​a mistake,” says Holden….

Original article: Statsadvokatene ønsker ikke ny Breivik-vurdering

Prosecutors’ (State Attorneys’) letter (in Norwegian): Statement from Oslo statsadvokatembeter to Oslo Tingrett

Related post: Breivik formally rejects proposal for new psychiatric experts

Breivik formally rejects proposal for new psychiatric experts

In a letter to the Oslo District Court (Tingrett), Anders Behring Breivik’s lawyer, Geir Lippestad, rejected the request made by one of the plainstiff’s lawyers for the appointment of new psychiatric experts. Lippestad writes that his client does not want a new psychiatric evaluation, but will, rather, call on the opinions of expert witnesses on politically motivated terror, history and sociology to evaluate his accountability.

Lippestad also rejected the proposal that Breivik be hospitalized for observation, pointing out that the prison has been in contact with a psychiatric hospital, but that that institution found no medical reason to accept Breivik as a patient.

Google translation:

Breivik rejects demands for new experts
01/04/2012

The defenders of Anders Behring Breivik reject counsel’s claim for a new expert evaluation to determine the question of sanity.

In a letter to the Oslo City Court Wednesday writes Vibeke Hein Bæra that Breivik not willing to submit to a new forensic psychiatric assessment, not a limited investigation.

Attorney Bæra also rejects the counsel of John Arild Aasen that Breivik will be admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a comprehensive assessment.

“After what we have understood the prison proposed request to the hospital about the need for hospitalization. Responsible hospitals have found no basis for this. It is informed by the accused that he is fine and he does not feel the need for any treatment,” writes Bæra to the court….

Original article: Breivik avviser krav om nye sakkyndige

Lawyer’s letter (in Norwegian): Statement from Lippestad law firm to Oslo Tingrett

Related post: Attending psychiatrist/psychologists say Breivik neither psychotic nor schizophrenic

Attending psychiatrist/psychologists say Breivik neither psychotic nor schizophrenic

Norwegian television station, TV2, reports that three psychologists and one psychiatrist, who have all closely followed Anders Behring Breivik in prison for several months since August while he was kept in solitary confinement, have concluded that Breivik is neither psychotic nor schizophrenic, and that he does not require any medication. In contrast, the court-appointed psychiatrists diagnosed Breivik as having paranoid schizophrenia and as being psychotic.

Google translation:

New report on Breivik: “Is not psychotic”
03.01.2012

For several months, Anders Behring Breivik has been isolated in Ila prison and detention institution. Just three weeks after 22 July began three psychologists and a psychiatrist from Sandvika community mental health center, a very close follow-up of him in prison.

TV 2 can reveal what their startling conclusion:

They believe Breivik not psychotic or schizophrenic, that he did not need drugs – and that there is not any danger that he will kill himself.

Original article: Ny rapport om Breivik: – Er ikke psykotisk

Related post: Lawyers for plaintiffs looking for international psychiatric experts

Lawyers for plaintiffs looking for international psychiatric experts

Norwegian newspaper, Verdens Gang (VG), reports that several of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs have begun a search for psychiatrists from abroad for a new evaluation of Anders Behring Breivik. Breivik himself has said that he would prefer Japanase court psychiatrists because of the Japanese concept of honor, but he has decided not to request a new psychiatric evaluation by the court.

Google translation:

Introducing foreign experts in Breivik case
03.01.12

Plaintiffs’ lawyers are now looking for new independent right that psychiatrists could examine Anders Behring Breivik again….

Sigurd Klomsæt is clear that he thinks it only right is to go abroad to get a new forensic psychiatric assessment.

“I am very skeptical of the report. We have seen in many contexts, that the Norwegian communities are too narrow and self-centered, says Klomsæt, who is counsel for one Utøya-survivors….

He uses the word “incomprehensible” to the conclusion that Anders Behring Breivik is insane.

“He has performed deliberate acts over a long period of time. Is this level for this type of psychiatric conclusions, is that many miscarriage of justice ruled in Norwegian prisons….”

Defense lawyer, Geir Lippestad, has repeatedly expressed that he is satisfied with the right-appointed psychiatrists Synne Sørheim and Torgeir Husby, who this fall concluded that Breivik is criminally insane, on the basis of a total of 13 conversations they had with him in prison.

The terror accused is willing to be examined by the foreign law psychiatrists. Behring Breivik has said that he wants the Japanese right psychiatrists, because of their honor.

Original article: Lanserer utenlandske sakkyndige i Breivik-saken

Related post: Further critique of psychiatric diagnosis

Further critique of psychiatric diagnosis

The psychiatric report by court-appointed psychiatrists declaring Anders Behring Breivik insane has received strong critisism by both medical experts and political commentators. Aftenposten has printed an opinion by Norwegian literature professor, Jørgen Haugan, in which he compares Breivik’s diagnosis to that of the famous author, Knut Hamsun, who was declared insane when standing trial for treason following WWII.

Google translation:

Politics and psychiatry
03.jan.2012

When Anders Behring Breivik was mental examination, he showed up well prepared with a series of questions to the two psychiatrists. The first was whether they liked Knut Hamsun! He also wanted to know if they went in for “multiculturalism”. Behring Breivik evidently feared to suffer the same fate as Hamsun, which is to be declared insane and therefore irresponsible.

In Hamsun’s case was the mental effort clearly a governmental custom work. Professor Gabriel Langfeldt was ordered to issue. H e resisted, because he thought it resisted his professional honor, but was told that his professional honor was subordinate to the national honor. It was the nation that was saved from international shame when judging the beloved poet and Nobel Prize winner as a traitor….

Behring Breivik’s fear of suffering the same fate as Hamsun was known as well-founded. After 36 hours of study psychiatrists declared that Behring Breivik suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, a diagnosis, which also excludes the normal prison sentence.

Original article: Politikk og psykiatri

Related post: Court-appointed psychiatrists placed much weight on initial police interview

Court-appointed psychiatrists placed much weight on initial police interview

According to the Norwegian newspaper, Verdens Gang (VG), the court-appointed psychiatrists who diagnosed Anders Behring Breivik as psychotic placed much weight on the questioning of Breivik by police immediately after his arrest. The interview was conducted without the presence of a lawyer, a right which Breivik waived at the time.

In his manifesto Breivik wrote that he planned to take a cocktail of drugs to enable him to carry out the attacks and this may have affected his state of mind and judgemnet during the police intverview.

Google translation:

“I am the greatest monster since Quisling”
01/02/12

This said Breivik under interrogation on Utøya.

The court psychiatrists who have declared Anders Behring Breivik (32) insane were particularly concerned about what he said after his arrest on Utøya….

Without a lawyer

The police informed the mass murderer of the rights he had, as charged, but gave the notice that it was not possible that he received help from the defense because they had very little time. According to defense counsel Geir Lippe City accepted Breivik to be questioned without a lawyer present….

Original article: - Jeg er det største monsteret siden Quisling