Court Orders New Psychiatric Evaluation of Norway Gunman

Posted January 13th, 2012 at 8:15 am (UTC-5)
Leave a comment

A Norwegian court has ordered a new psychiatric evaluation for the confessed gunman in last year's shooting massacre.

A judge in Oslo called Friday for the evaluation to determine the criminal responsibility of the gunman, Anders Behring Breivik. The judge said two new psychiatrists were named to perform the evaluation.

Earlier this month, some victims of the shooting called for a new evaluation of Breivik, saying doctors monitoring him had seen no signs of paranoid schizophrenia and had not medicated him.

Two court-appointed psychiatrists previously declared the gunman criminally insane.

The 32-year-old Breivik set off a car bomb in Oslo in July and then went on a shooting rampage at a nearby youth summer camp. Seventy-seven people died in the twin attacks.

Breivik's trial is set to begin in April. If he is determined to have been insane at the time of the crime he could end up in psychiatric care rather than getting a long prison sentence.

Even though Breivik has confessed, his lawyer says he denies criminal responsibility because he believes the massacre was needed to save Norway and Europe from an influx of Muslims, and to punish politicians for embracing multiculturalism.