Norway suspect hints he did not act alone

Accused says he has two more cells who collaborated with him

The defendant, Anders Behring Breivik, appeared at a closed arraignment hearing here as Norwegians paused in grief and self-examination for a minute’s silence to mark the deaths of at least 93 people in last Friday’s attacks.

While acknowledging that he carried out the attacks, Breivik “has not pleaded guilty,” Judge Kim Heger told a televised news conference, in remarks translated by an official of the court.
The judge said Breivik had been charged under criminal law with “acts of terrorism,” including an attempt to “disturb or destroy the functions of society, such as the government” and to spread “serious fear” among the population.

Breivik was ordered to be held for the next eight weeks, the first four in solitary confinement. He told police that there were “two further cells in our organisation,” reporters were told.

Breivik is the only person accused so far in the twin attacks last Friday when a huge bomb in central Oslo killed seven people and was followed soon afterwards by a shooting rampage against a camp run by the ruling Labour Party on the nearby island of Utoya.

In testimony, Heger said, Breivik had said he “believes that he needed to carry out these acts to save Norway” and western Europe from “cultural Marxism and Muslim domination.”

The court appearance was Breivik’s first since he was captured last Friday. Through his lawyer, he had indicated that he wanted to use the hearing as a platform and had wished to appear wearing some kind of uniform. But the court rejected those requests. The judge said Breivik had wished to “give a sharp signal” and inflict “the worst possible loss” on the Labour Party, accusing it of failing to prevent a “mass importing of Muslims” into Norway.