The 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik has admitted to the bomb attack on the main government building in Oslo and the killing of over 90 students at an island youth camp.
Breivik reportedly used dum-dum bullets on his victims, ammunition that is designed to explode within the body, causing maximum internal damage.
The vast majority of those he killed were under the age of 18.
Breivik is said to have spent years planning the terror attacks, fuelled by a right-wing anti-Islam, anti-multi-culturalist ideology. He had posted neo-Nazi rantings on the Internet in the months leading up to the attacks and appears to have seen his actions as part of a noble campaign to save Western Europe.
Prosecutors say he sought to attack society. By attacking the youth camp, where a political rally was being held by the ruling party, he appeared to be attacking the future of Norway, the progressive, non-racial future of Norway.
Breivik had repeatedly argued that Western Europe needed a Tea Party movement like that seen in the United States.
The bombing in the capital and the shootings at a government youth camp have rocked Norway to its core. A large country, but with a population of just 4.9 million, the country is widely regarded as a model nation and was ranked number one on the UN’s human development index in 2010.
At Monday’s court hearing, the suspect is expected to explain his actions, although it not yet clear whether those proceedings will be broadcast to the public. Breivik has described his crimes as “gruesome but necessary”.
At 12.00 local time Norway will observe a minute’s silence for those killed in its worst day of violence since the end of the Second World War.
Under Norwegian law, Breivik faces a maximum of 21 years in prison, although that sentence can be extended if the subject is deemed a threat to society.
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