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Grete Faremo jams her office door open in the new Justice Ministryto the north of Oslo. Since moving across town in the wake of thecar bomb that destroyed much of the previous headquarters lastJuly, it has a nasty habit of closing on her. As a metaphor forNorway's open-and-shut democratic institutions, and its transparentguarantee of the rule of law, it is neatly persuasive. But, asJustice Minister, Faremo must deal with two things that may bemutually exclusive: upholding Norway's proudly liberal judicialsystem and tinkering with it enough to make sure the man who blewup her last office is not only never released but also does not getto propagate his views. Anders Behring Breivik, 33, has admitted to detonating the bombthat mangled the government complex in the center of Oslo, killingeight, then driving to the nearby wooded island of Utoya, where hegunned down another 69 people, mostly teenage members of the LaborParty's youth wing. His guilt is not in doubt. Breivik is on trialfor his sanity. Whatever the outcome, Norway faces a devilish taskin maintaining adherence to its liberal values while ensuring aseverity of sentence to articulate a popular demand for justice. (PHOTOS: Explosion and Shooting Rock Norway) Breivik's defense is structured around demonstrating his sanity andavoiding the compulsory mental health care, which the gunman fearswill delegitimize his violently anti-Islamic cause. If he is foundsane, he will face a maximum punishment of 21 years behind bars.But Breivik has no illusions that he will ever be a free man. Therolling five-year extension, which can be applied if he is stillconsidered dangerous after his jail term has expired, has alreadyrendered this sentence little more than a guideline. Instead thegunman is set on using his notoriety and Norway's rules on freedomof expression for prisoners to continue propagating his views. Geir Lippestad, Breivik's defense attorney, says that should heserve time in prison, his client intends to write a book and becomea pseudopolitical figure. Helje Solberg, editor of VG , Norway's biggest daily newspaper, insists the mainstream mediawill not allow Breivik a platform to air his views. But there areno laws to prevent him from doing it. Case in point: until Breivikcame along, Varg Vikernes was Norway's most notorious criminal,having burned down at least three churches in the early 1990s andmurdered his metal bandmate Oystein Aarseth in a frenzied knifeattack. Even after conviction, however, he produced two albums,published a book, Vargsmal , wrote several far-right magazine articles and is said, though hedenies it, to have founded the Norwegian arm of the pan-Europeanneo-Nazi organization, the Heathen Front — all from his prisoncell. With the trial still under way, Faremo refused to discuss the leaksthat suggest her department is preparing to sanction a crackdown onprisoners' media rights. But this only applies if Breivik isconsidered mentally competent. The more pressing problems will becreated if he is considered insane. (MORE: Anders Behring Breivik: Why He Wants You to Look at Him) The five judges who have to rule on his mental health are alreadyjuggling two contradictory psychiatric reports. The first,delivered to the court in November, concluded that Breivik was amentally incompetent, psychotic, paranoid schizophrenic. Thesecond, commissioned after widespread criticism of the originaltract, reported in April that he was antisocial and narcissisticbut perfectly sane. Psychiatry holds a powerful position in Norwegian criminal justice.Norway is one of the countries where a mentally incompetent personcannot be punished — even if his crimes are unrelated to hispsychosis. Candid about the need to address this in the wake of theJuly 22 case, Faremo has set up a commission that will seek toprevent the nightmare scenario that Breivik is hospitalized, then"cured" and released. She says, "We need to go into the penal code.We have a long history of saying that an insane person cannot bepunished. But we have not dealt with the issue of whether we letthe diagnosis play that crucial a role." The commission will reportin August. By then, a new Health Department law creating a secure hospitalinside Oslo's maximum-security Ila Prison will already be on thestatute books. Breivik is set to be sentenced on July 20. The law,tabled by Minister of Health Anne-Grete Strom-Erichsen on May 11,will be in place before then. In almost any democracy, such a swiftlegislative turnaround would be remarkable. In Norway, where atorturous process of consultation and committee means legislatingusually takes years, the speed seems indecent. The Bar Associationis furious. (MORE: The Breivik Trial: Norway's Self-Flagellation for a HorrificCrime) Psychiatrists are equally so. Robin Kass, the Health Ministry StateSecretary, insists the new law, which also limits access to mediaas well as introducing the right to use wiretaps and strip searchesinside psychiatric hospitals, addresses long-standing securityconcerns. But there is no doubt whose circumstances the new law,known colloquially as lex Breivik , is aimed at addressing. Thor Kvakkestad, a veteran criminalpsychiatrist, says the location of the institution inside thehigh-security prison would help Norwegians who think of hospital asa soft option to feel justice is being served. But he is moreconcerned about a clause that requires the psychiatrist in chargeto take advice from a senior police officer when the three-yearlyissue of assessing the patient's location and sanity is raised. Ostensibly, says Kvakkestad, the police input would be strictlyadvisory and relate only to the physical threat an inmate wouldface from people outside the unit. In reality, he thinks, becauseof the political pressure in a case like Breivik's, heeding theadvice would be impossible to withstand — creating a scenarioin which a sane man could be kept locked up in a mentalinstitution. It is difficult for Norwegians to accept the need to adjust theirlaws so profoundly based on the actions of a single terrorist. Inthe wake of the attacks last year, survivors and politicianspledged that the country would not be changed. But the collectivedesire to salve the thirst for a kind of justice that wasunavailable then is undeniable. The last time Norway tinkered so heavily with its judicial systemwas when it was dealing with the notorious wartime collaborator,Vidkun Quisling. He was hanged. As proud as Norwegians are of theirliberal justice, a very great many would welcome a similar outcomefor Anders Breivik. MORE: A Killer in Paradise: Inside the Norway Attacks. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Revolving Shoe Rack Manufacturer , Louvered Closet Doors Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Partition Sliding Doors.
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