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A woman looks towards Utoya and sits among floral tributes to the victims of the July 2011 attack. AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis/PA

Survivors of Breivik gun attack describe shootings

Victims of the Utoya island attack describe their efforts to escape from the gunman.

THE OSLO TRIAL of the man who admits carrying out a double terror attack which killed 77 people in Norway last summer has been hearing evidence from some of the survivors of the Utoya attack.

Breivik has admitted planning and carrying out a bombing in Oslo and a mass shooting on the island of Utoya on 22 July 2011.

However, he denies criminal responsibility.

Speaking in court today, Utyoa survivor Marius Toft described the attempts he and a friend made to try to escape from Breivik when he began opening fire at a Labour Party youth camp. He said that the two had tried to climb down a sheer cliff face to hide from the gunman when his friend slipped and fell, journalist Lars Bevanger tweeted from the court. His friend was fatally injured in the fall.

Other survivors spoke of their efforts to run away or swim from the island even after they had been wounded by Breivik.

One girl spoke said she was shot in the leg before making an escape by boat with other survivors. She said Breivik fired at the boat as they rowed away from the island, Trygve Sorvaag tweeted from the court.

When police arrived on the scene, the survivors in the boat called on them not to shoot because they had thought that Breivik was a police officer too.

Sorvaag also tweeted about the demographic of the attack’s survivors:

If the court finds Breivik sane, he could face 21 years in prison, or an alternative custodial arrangement which could see him detained for so long as he is considered a threat to society.

If declared insane, Breivik would be committed to psychiatric care indefinitely, for so long as he is considered ill.

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    Mute El Cheebo
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    May 14th 2012, 3:29 PM

    22 years seems a very light sentence unless it’s per victim?

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    Mute James Daly
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    May 14th 2012, 3:44 PM

    Scandinavian countries are famously lenient by our standards, but their system seems to work. They believe in punishing, rehabilitating, and reintegrating offenders back into society at the end.

    You don’t have the tabloid media over there pressuring politicians into being harsh for the sake of it: their policy is worked out by criminologists and professionals. You won’t find many Norwegian citizens calling for Breivik to be hanged either: they tend to trust the system to do what is right.

    That said, it’s possible that he will spend the rest of his life locked up in a mental institution if he is found insane.

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    Mute Marguerite Hoiby
    Favourite Marguerite Hoiby
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    May 14th 2012, 4:59 PM

    James, they may feel differently this time, 22 yrs for so amny young lives is crazy!

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    Mute James Daly
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    May 14th 2012, 5:08 PM

    You’d think that Marguerite, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

    It’s well worth taking a look at the Norwegian media reporting of the case, or even just with interviews that the international media have been doing with Norwegian citizens.
    People aren’t calling for his head – they are pretty subdued about it and are trusting the system to take its course.

    This contrasts starkly with the US, where there are shouts of “terrorism” every time something like this happens.
    The Norwegian authorities and society are not giving Brevik the satisfaction of being labelled as a terrorist: they are treating him as an ordinary criminal with possible psychiatric problems. This means he is not being glorified and is not being given a platform to air his views and increase his following.

    We would consider 22 years to be a crazily short sentence, but that’s because we have a habit of thinking of the justice system as being a tool to take revenge on people.
    Over there, revenge is not what they aim for. They strive for a safer society, punishment, rehabilitation and reintegration. Someone is not going to “learn their lesson” any better after 60 years’ imprisonment than they would after 21 years.

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    Mute James Daly
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    May 14th 2012, 2:47 PM

    It’s good to see justice taking its course and everyone having a chance to be heard. I have total faith in the Norwegian system providing the correct outcome.

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    Mute Catherine Hayward
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    May 14th 2012, 3:05 PM

    My heart goes out to all the Families that lost loved ones, I cannot begin to imagine how they cope with such devastation, God love them all.

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    Mute Popsicle Pete
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    May 14th 2012, 7:15 PM

    A truly terrifying man. I hope somebody takes that smile off his face.

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