Norway judge silences Breivik in court

A picture released by Norwegian police shows a file portrait of Norwegian killer Anders Behring Breivik. / Getty

Updated at 8:08 a.m. Eastern.

OSLO, Norway - The Norwegian right-wing extremist who confessed to a bombing and shooting massacre that killed 77 people tried to give a speech describing himself as a resistance leader at his first public court hearing Monday but was cut off by the judge.

Wearing a dark suit, Anders Behring Breivik was escorted by guards into an Oslo court room packed with dozens of reporters and members of the public, including survivors of his shooting at a youth camp outside the capital who were seeing him in person for the first time since the bloody rampage.

Breivik began portraying himself as the "commander" of a Norwegian resistance movement before Judge Torkjel Nesheim interrupted him and told him to stick to the issue at hand. The hearing was to decide whether to extend Breivik's custody pending his trial on terror charges.

Breivik was turned down again when he asked the judge if he could address survivors and victims' relatives.

The judge granted prosecutors their request Monday to keep him jailed for 12 more weeks, before the criminal trial gets underway.

Tim Viskjer, a survivor of the shooting spree, watched the hearing in another room of the court house from a video screen.

"I thought he seemed cold and inhuman," Viskjer told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "It was uncomfortable, but for me I moved on a little bit after seeing and hearing the suspect."

Complete coverage: Massacre in Norway
Confessed Norway killer's isolation extended
FBI warns of "lone wolf" Norway-style attacks

Previous court hearings in the case have been closed to the public. At the end of Monday's hearing, the judge lifted a ban on reporting on the proceedings.

Investigators say Breivik set off a fertilizer bomb outside the government headquarters on July 22, killing eight people, before heading to an island retreat, where youth sections of Norway's governing Labor Party were gathered for their annual summer camp. Disguised as a police officer, he opened fire on scores of panicked youth, shooting some of them as they fled into the lake. Sixty-nine people were killed on Utoya island before Breivik surrendered to a police SWAT team.

The carnage left Norway shocked, and continues to haunt a nation that sees itself as peaceful and tolerant.

Breivik confessed to the attacks but pleaded not guilty to terror charges, claiming he is in a state of war to protect Europe from being taken over by Muslim immigrants.

An online manifesto attributed to Breivik sheds light on his choice of targets. In it, he lays out a blueprint for a multi-phase revolution, targeting left-leaning political elites he accuses of destroying their own societies by admitting large numbers of immigrants, especially from Muslim countries.

His actions were widely condemned, including by the anti-Islamic bloggers and groups that he cited prolifically in the document.

[TomCoffingiii]

It's amazing how some people will hear about an atrocious act committed by a Muslim and will proceed to lump every Muslim into the category of "killer" or "terrorist".

Yet these same groups are silent when a right-wing catholic does the same thing (and, I can argue, is much worse).

Why isn't there a war on catholic terrorists? Why aren't these people standing and fighting for their freedom against catholic terrorists?

It's amazingly hypocritical.

[inketolstoy]

Nothing like attacking religious bigotry with your own religious bigotry. There is a war on terrorists that are catholic (IRA) but not against Catholicism because the terrorism comes from the individual, not the teachings of the church. But don't let any facts get in the way of your own anti catholic zealotry. That is amazingly hypocritical.

[AnnieDanny]

Canameri, I don't know what churches you are referring to. Mainstream denominations (including Catholic), do not say that Muslims are evil. In fact, there is considerable concern for them as human beings and souls that God created. Most churches stick to the topic at hand, which is to preach Jesus Christ. There are the nutso exceptions of course but you will EASILY find far more churches with compassion for Muslims than the few who teach hatred.

Your sweeping generalities against Christians simply do not work and can't be proven. Seems as if your own prejudices are speaking loud and clear though.

[mrsherman]

The SWAT team was too self controlled. Regretfully, nobody made sure he would never be able to procreate.