MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Wednesday marks the four-year anniversary of two sequential terrorist attacks committed in Norway on July 22, 2011.
The attacks conducted by Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Breivik claimed 77 lives, becoming the deadliest attack in the country since the Second World War.
First terrorist attack in Oslo
The first attack was a car explosion near the executive government quarter in the center of Norway’s capital Oslo, where the prime minister’s office is located. According to expert estimates, the explosive device yield was the equivalent of between 400 and 700 kilograms (882 and 1,543 lbs) of TNT.
The explosive device was placed in a Volkswagen Crafter automobile parked a few meters from the entrance to the prime minister’s office. There were 250 people in the building when the explosion went off.
Second attack at Utoya Island
Within a few hours, a gunman wearing a police uniform opened fire in a youth camp of the Norwegian Labor Party on the island of Utoya.
The island of Utoya is in the county of Buskerud on Tyrifjorden Lake about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from Oslo. It is owned by the youth wing of the Norwegian Labor Party, which holds annual youth camps there that are attended by some 560 people.
This double attack claimed the lives of 77 people with eight killed by the bomb attack in Oslo and 69 on the island of Utoya.
Anders Breivik — Man Behind Both Attacks
The Norwegian police arrested the suspect Anders Breivik on Utoya. The 32-year-old native Norwegian was charged with both attacks.
Breivik had been preparing the attacks since 2006, when he broke away from friends and family, stopped socializing and became solitary.
In 2006, he played online game World of Warcraft every day, which he said helped him devise strategy and tactics for his attack. The defendant explained that since buying firearms is a very complex procedure in Norway, he had to join a pistol club, which entitled him to buy a firearm and practice shooting.
According to Breivik, in order to get to the island, he told the boatman it was an emergency: he had to inform people of the explosion in the government quarter in Oslo. In the tent camp, his plan was to frighten as many people as possible and force them into the water to drown.
He started killing people on the way in. The young people tried to save themselves by hiding under beds, jumping from windows and running into the lake.
The shootings lasted for ninety minutes.
From the first minutes of the mass shooting Breivik expected police and Norwegian emergency response unit, Delta, to arrive at the scene, but they didn’t show up. He picked up the first cell phone he saw and called the police, telling them who he was and what was happening on the island.
It took Delta ninety minutes after the shooting began to arrive at the scene. They had arrived at the lakefront by car, because the only helicopter in the area was unavailable. The emergency response unit used pleasure boats to reach the island after the engine of the local police boat failed. Two minutes after their arrival, Breivik surrendered without resistance.
Explosives were discovered on the island.
On July 24, police carried out a special operation to find possible accomplices suspected of having connections with the Oslo terrorist attack. Six people were detained, but released later due to lack of evidence.
The same day, Breivik’s lawyer said that his defendant acted alone.
Court Hearing: Breivik Sane or Not?
The first court hearings on Breivik’s case took place in Oslo on July 25, 2011. Accused of perpetrating two terrorist attacks, he was detained without the right to communication or visitation with anyone but his lawyer. He was indicted under Article 147 of the Norwegian Criminal Code (terrorism and terrorist activity) with a maximum sentence of 21 years in prison.
A psychiatric examination of Breivik was completed in November 2011. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Experts concluded that Breivik was criminally insane and that he required compulsory treatment.
The Oslo District Court ordered an additional independent examination, and on April 10, 2012 Breivik was declared sane and aware of his actions.
The trial began on April 16, 2012, in the Oslo District Court. Anders Breivik was accused of killing 77 people.
On June 21, the Norwegian prosecutor’s office requested that he be sent to a psychiatric clinic for compulsory treatment, as the prosecution believed Breivik to be insane despite expert opinion to the contrary.
On June 22, the last day of the trial, Breivik’s lawyer demanded the lightest possible punishment and claimed that the defendant be declared sane.
Earlier, Breivik told the court he was sane and requested punishment in accordance with the Criminal Code.
In his statement to the court, Breivik pleaded not guilty and said that he acted in the interests of native-born Norwegians, seeking to protect them from Islam and multiculturalism.
On August 24, 2012, the Oslo District Court declared Anders Breivik sane and found him guilty of charges of terrorism and the murder of 77 people, sentencing him the maximum 21-year prison term, which can be sequentially extended.
Monuments to the victims of this tragedy have since appeared across Norway. They are designed as rectangular stone structures with a human silhouette carved in them.
The Norwegian authorities wanted to open the biggest memorial on Utoya Island, but the relatives of the victims disliked the idea, saying it would damage the island’s landscape. Local residents were against the idea of perpetuating grief.
