Anders Behring Breivik judge dismissed for Facebook death penalty call

“The death penalty is the only just sentence in this case!!!!!!!!!!” read the message which Thomas Indrebo posted under an article in Norway’s VG Tabloid on 23 July last year, the day after Breivik killed 77 people in his attacks.

After adjourning the proceedings for 50 minutes, Judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen ruled that he should be replaced by lay judge Elisabeth Wisloff, one of two backup lay judges in the case.

“We understand that the events affected many people … and the statement came before he was a lay judge, but the statements may weaken trust in his impartiality,” Ms Arntzen said.

Breivik is being tried by two professional judges and three lay judges for the crime of mass-killing with the aim of terrorising a population. It is they who will rule on whether he faces a maximum prison sentence of 21 years, or compulsory psychiatric treatment.

Norway’s lay judges, drawn from the ranks of ordinary citizens, were brought in more than 100-years ago as an alternative to the jury system in the UK and US.