Some names of Norwegian victims released
Posted July 26, 2011 12:41 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Norwegian police have released the names of four of the 76 people killed in a bombing and shooting rampage on Friday.
The youngest, 23-year-old Gunnar Linaker from Bardu in northern Norway, was talking to his father on the phone when the shootings started.
Roald Linaker said his son was “a calm, big teddy-bear with lots of humour and lots of love.”
“He said to me: ‘Dad, dad, someone is shooting,’ and then he hung up.”
Earlier Tuesday, the lawyer of Anders Behring Breivik, the man who confessed to carrying out the rampage, said Breivik had asked how many people he had killed and had admitted to taking drugs during the attacks.
“This whole case indicated that he is insane,” Geir Lippestad told the media, adding his client will spend the rest of his life in jail.
Breivik, 32, targeted Norway’s ruling Labour Party in the massacre of eight people in a bombing of Oslo’s government district and 68 at a Labour Party summer camp on the nearby island of Utoya.
So far, Breivik has been charged with “destabilizing or destroying basic functions of society” and “creating serious fear in the population.”
But prosecutors are reportedly considering whether the acts qualify as crimes against humanity, which carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in jail instead of 21 under anti-terrorism laws.
In both cases the sentence can be extended if there is a risk of repeat offences.
Meanwhile, Breivik’s former stepmother said she had no idea what he was planning despite staying in touch with him.
“I saw no sign of him being a person like he must have been,” said Tove Oevermo, who divorced Breivik’s father more than a decade ago. “It’s really such a shock.”
The attacks were the result of years of plotting and grew out of Breivik’s extreme nationalist philosophy and desire for an anti-Muslim revolution.
About 150,000 people laid roses in the streets of Oslo on Monday as they continued to mourn the dead.
And in Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed a book of condolences at the Norwegian embassy.
Condolence books are also open at the Toronto consulate.
With files from the Associated Press
