Norwegian Gunman Anders Behring Breivik Demands Immediate Release

(NewsCore) - Norwegian gunman Anders Behring Breivik on Monday asked an Oslo court to free him immediately, saying his killing spree last year in which 77 people died was "a preventive attack against state traitors."

"I do not accept imprisonment. I demand to be immediately released," Breivik, 32, said in a hearing on his detention, his last scheduled court appearance before he goes on trial in April.

The July 22 massacre was "a preventive attack against state traitors" committed to "defend the ethnic Norwegian population," AFP quoted him as telling the court, which included survivors and relatives of his victims.

The court rejected his request to be set free, and he will remain in detention until his trial.

Breivik was led into the court in handcuffs by police. He touched his chest and then pointed with his arms, in what his lawyer later said was a right-wing salute.

Breivik wore a black suit and sported a trimmed beard, and he glanced occasionally at the flashing cameras before fishing out some notes from his suit pocket, according to footage aired by the broadcaster NRK.

Breivik again confessed to carrying out last July's shocking massacres, which saw him detonate a car bomb outside the government buildings in central Oslo that house the offices of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Eight people died in that attack.

He then went on a shooting spree at a political youth camp on Utoya island, killing 69 mostly young people. Breivik has refused to plead guilty, saying that the attacks were "atrocious but necessary" in his campaign against multiculturalism and Muslims in Europe.

Prosecutors initially declared Breivik to be criminally insane, but last month, an Oslo court ordered a new psychiatric evaluation.