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"It is obvious that it has nothing to do with preventive self-defense," Doerre told The Associated Press. If deemed mentally competent, Breivik would face a maximum prison sentence of 21 years or an alternate custody arrangement under which the sentence is prolonged for as long as an inmate is deemed a danger to society. Police sealed off the streets around the Oslo court building, where journalists, survivors and relatives of victims watched the proceedings in a 200-seat courtroom built specifically for the trial. Thick glass partitions were put up to separate the defendant from victims and their families, many of whom are worried that Breivik will use the trial to promote his extremist political ideology. In a manifesto he published online before the attacks, Breivik wrote that "patriotic resistance fighters" should use trials "as a platform to further our cause." Norway's NRK television was broadcasting parts of the trial live, but it is not allowed to show Breivik's testimony. After he surrendered, Breivik had told investigators he is a resistance fighter in a far-right militant group modeled after the Knights Templar
-- a Western Christian order that fought during the crusades. Police, however, have found no trace of any organization and say he acted alone. "In our opinion, such a network does not exist," Prosecutor Svein Holden told the court on Monday. In his manifesto, Breivik described the supposed group's initiation rites, oaths and the "clenched fist salute" that he used in court, symbolizing "strength, honor and defiance against the Marxist tyrants of Europe." After blowing up parts of the government building and shooting dozens to death on Utoya island, Breivik surrendered to police 1 hour and 20 minutes after he arrived on Utoya. The police response to his terror spree was slowed by a series of mishaps, including the lack of an operating police helicopter and the breakdown of an overloaded boat carrying a commando team to the island.
[Associated Press by By KARL RITTER]
Associated Press writers Bjoern H. Amland and Julia Gronnevet contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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