Norway suspect held in confinement

OSLO, Norway – The self-described perpetrator of Norway’s deadly bombing and shooting rampage was ordered held in solitary confinement Monday after calmly telling a court that two other cells of collaborators stood ready to join his murderous campaign.

Anders Behring Breivik, who has admitted bombing the capital and opening fire on a youth group retreat on an island resort, told authorities he expects to spend the rest of his life in prison. Declaring he wanted to save Europe from “Muslim domination,” he entered a plea of not guilty that will guarantee him future court hearings and opportunities to address the public, even indirectly.

Norway has been stunned by the attacks and riveted by Breivik’s paranoid and disturbing writings. Hundreds thronged the courthouse, hoping to get their first glimpse of the man blamed for the deaths of 76 people – lowered Monday from 93. At one point, a car drove through the crowd and onlookers beat it with their fists, thinking Breivik might be inside.

Still tens of thousands of Norwegians also defied his rhetoric of hate to gather in central Oslo to mourn the victims and lay thousands of flowers around the city.

Police believe Breivik, 32, acted alone, despite his grand claims in a 1,500-page manifesto that he belonged to a modern group of crusaders. But they have not completely ruled out that he had accomplices.

Judge Kim Heger ordered Breivik held for eight weeks, including four in isolation, noting his reference to “two more cells within our organization.”

In an interview published Monday, Breivik’s estranged father said he wished his son had killed himself instead of unleashing his rage on innocent people.

The outpouring of emotion stood in stark contrast to what prosecutor Christian Hatlo described as Breivik’s calm demeanor at the hearing, which was closed to the public over security concerns and to prevent a public airing of his extremist views. Hatlo said he “seemed unaffected by what has happened.”

Meanwhile, police revealed they had dramatically overcounted the number of people slain in the shooting spree on Utoya island, lowering the death toll there from 86 to 68. Police spokesman Oystein Maeland said police and rescuers were focused on helping survivors and securing the area, and may have counted some bodies twice, though he did not immediately explain how the errors occurred.

Police also raised the toll from a bombing outside the government’s headquarters in Oslo from seven to eight.

Police took 90 minutes to arrive at the island retreat after the first shot and survivors who called emergency services reported being told to stay off the lines unless they were calling about the Oslo bombings.On Monday, the police force revealed that its entire Oslo helicopter crew had been sent on vacation and thus couldn’t be mobilized to the scene.

Breivik faces 21 years in prison for the terrorism charges, but he has told authorities he never expects to be released. While 21 years is the stiffest sentence a Norwegian judge can hand down, a special sentence can be given to prisoners deemed a danger to society who are locked up for 20-year sentences that can be renewed indefinitely.

Oslo began to get back to normal Monday, with shops opening and the tram running.

The entire country paused for a minute of silence in honor of the victims, then later in the day, 150,000 people filled the city’s streets to mourn the dead with a rose vigil that ended in the heart of the city. Afterward, entire streets were awash in flowers; roses also decorated the fences that blocked off Friday’s bomb site.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Swedish tabloid Expressen, the suspect’s father said he was ashamed and disgusted by his son’s acts.

“I don’t feel like his father,” said Jens David Breivik, a former Norwegian diplomat, from his secluded home in southern France. “How could he just stand there and kill so many innocent people and just seem to think that what he did was OK? He should have taken his own life, too. That’s what he should have done.”

The elder Breivik said he severed all contact with his son in 1995, when the latter was 16.