Norway attacks: Breivik detention extended

The man who confessed to killing 77 people in Norway in July will remain in custody for two more months and in solitary confinement for half that period, a court in Oslo has ruled.The decision was made after a hearing attended by Anders Behring Breivik. The 32-year-old right-wing extremist admitted planting a car bomb, which killed eight people in the Norwegian capital on 22 July. He then shot dead 69 people at a youth camp on the island of Utoeya. The court ruled on Monday that Mr Breivik could be held in total isolation until 17 October, and in custody with a ban on visitors and correspondence until 14 November. "The court does not find it unreasonable that he be kept in complete isolation due to the risk that he - through other inmates - could contact possible accomplices... and taint evidence," judge Anne Margrethe Lund said.Mr Breivik's lawyer told the AFP news agency that his client had addressed the hearing. "The accused spoke about the difficulty of being held in isolation," Geir Lippestad said. He declined to give more details. The court had initially ordered an open hearing, but that decision was later overruled by a higher court after police appealed against it. Mr Breivik has admitted to the July killings but denies criminal responsibility. He has said the massacre was "necessary" to save Norway and Europe from Muslims and multiculturalism. Earlier this month it emerged that Mr Breivik was filmed by security cameras before he launched the attacks.A photo published in the media showed him dressed in a police uniform and carrying a gun as he walks away after planting a bomb in a car in Oslo. The image came from monitoring cameras at government headquarters and was taken six minutes before the car bomb exploded.No-one in the building raised the alarm, Norway's ABC Nyheter newspaper said on its website.