The Norwegian right-wing militant who admitting to killing 77 people in attacks last July has pleaded not guilty in court to terror and murder charges, saying he was acting in self-defense.

After rejecting the court's authority, Anders Behring Breivik Monday admitted to setting off a car bomb in Oslo and committing a shooting massacre at a youth camp organized by the ruling Labor party on Utoya island, outside the capital, on July 22.

Breivik told the court, “I admit to the acts, but not criminal guilt.”

His plea came after prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh spent more than an hour reading the charges against him, including “acts of terror,” and listing each of his victims and and how they died. Eight people were killed in the bombing in Oslo, and 69 people were shot to death at the youth camp.

Breivik has said he was defending Norway against multiculturalism and being taken over by Muslims. The anti-Islamic extremist claims he targeted the government headquarters in Oslo and the youth camp to strike against the left-leaning political forces he blames for allowing immigration in Norway.

The 33-year-old entered the court in handcuffs, which were taken off just before he was seated. He smirked several times as the cuffs were removed, put his right fist on his heart then extended his arm in salute.

Thick glass partitions separated the defendant from the 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 will broadcast parts of the trial, but it is not allowed to show Breivik's testimony, which is scheduled for five days.

He has called right-wing extremists and radical Islamists to testify during the trial, to show that there are others who share his view of clashing civilizations.

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