“Norway killer” Anders Breivik has been charged with acts of terrorism and will be remanded in custody for four weeks. He will be kept in isolation.
Breivik, who is accused of killing at least 93 people in Norway on Friday in a bombing and shooting attack, made his first appearance in an Olso court today.
An Oslo district court judge ruled that the hearing would be held behind closed doors so as not to compromise the investigation.
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Anders Breivik's white supremacist manifesto
The decision to carry out Breivik’s trial behind closed doors is also an attempt to deny the far right extremist a platform to promote his extremist views.
“It is clear that there is concrete information that a public hearing with the suspect present could quickly lead to an extraordinary and very difficult situation in terms of the investigation and security,” Judge Kim Heger said.
Breivik, 32, has already admitted carrying out the massacre at a youth camp in Norway.
The killer has said that although his actions were “gruesome” they were “necessary”.
According to his lawyer, Breivik planned to explain his actions to the court when appeared today.
Norwegian police arrested Breivik in the aftermath of the terror attacks, and described him to media as a “right-wing fundamentalist Christian.”
An online “manifesto” has emerged in which Breivik set out his terrorist plans, expressing his hope that his attack would trigger copycat violence by anti-immigration groups elsewhere in Europe.
Breivik has links to a farm-related business called “GeoFarm”. This allowed him to order massive quantities of ammonium nitrate fertilizer which can be used to make explosives.
In May Breivik ordered six tons of the chemical. Investigators have not been able to confirm yet whether the fertilizer was used in the Oslo bomb or if he was planning further attacks.
