Norwegian killer had taken drugs

The Norwegian man who has admitted to two attacks that two weeks ago killed 77 people had traces of drugs in his blood at the time of his arrest, his attorney said yesterday. Samples were taken from Anders Behring Breivik after his arrest on July 22. “The results are not complete but he (Breivik) has said he took a cocktail of medicines,” attorney Geir Lippestad told the VG newspaper. Prosecutor Christian Hatlo on Saturday told broadcaster NRK that blood tests taken after Breivik’s arrest on July 22 indicated Breivik had taken some form of drugs, but Hatlo did not offer details. Hatlo meanwhile said police were becoming more convinced that Breivik carried out the attacks alone, as the 32-year-old has claimed. Breivik was remanded in custody on July 25. He has admitted to planting a car bomb in Oslo that killed eight and a shooting rampage at a Labour Party youth camp that left 69 dead. Police have interviewed Breivik for about 30 hours, and a main line of questioning is to determine if there were accomplices. “As the days pass we are more and more certain that he managed to carry out the attacks alone,” Hatlo told yesterday’s edition of the Aftenposten daily, citing that Breivik’s explanations seemed to tally. Police have questioned Breivik about how he made the bomb and about the vehicles he used in the car bomb and to drive to Utoya island, where the shooting occurred. Hatlo said initial demands by Breivik - such as calling for the government to resign - were no longer an issue in the interviews. His demands were now more in line with usual requests such as access to books or TV series while in custody, the prosecutor told Aftenposten. The head of the far-right Sweden Democrats party said Saturday the attacks committed by Norwegian rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik were no reason to stop criticising immigration. “It should of course be allowed to criticise Swedish immigration policy without having to bear the responsibility of what that mass murderer has done,” Jimmie Aakesson told about 300 supporters in his hometown of Soelvesborg, in southeastern Sweden. He spent most of his summer speech distancing his parties’ ideas from those held by Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people on July 22 in attacks that sent shock waves across the region. Before perpetrating the worst attacks in Norway’s post-war history, Behring Breivik published a 1,500-page manifesto raving against multicultural policies in Europe and warning against the spread of Islam. Members of the far-right Sweden Democrats have often warned of the “Islamisation” of Europe. The party—which entered parliament for the first time last year—has a largely anti-immigration, anti-Muslim platform. Analysts, including the Expo foundation, a leading observatory of far-right activity in Scandinavia, have said many ideas contained in Behring Breivik’s manifesto could be found in the party’s rhetoric. The party has denied the claim and on Saturday Aakesson quoted different passages from the killer’s manifesto to show it was unlike the party’s ideas. “On the one hand he says he is a Europhile but on the other he imagines getting help from Russian fascists to use the atomic bomb against several European cities and murder millions of innocent Europeans,” Aakesson said. “We won’t stop criticising Swedish immigration just because he committed that horrible act,” the 32-year-old politician told Swedish radio after his speech.