Norway puts Anders Behring Breivik on trial for murder

The man who carried out a bomb and gun attack in Norway last year that left 77 people dead has gone on trial in Oslo.

Anders Breivik attacked a summer youth camp organised by the governing Labour party on the island of Utoeya, after setting off a car bomb in the capital.

He has confessed to the killings, but denies criminal responsibility.

The court must decide whether Breivik is criminally insane and should be committed to psychiatric care, or mentally stable and jailed.

In the latter case, he faces a sentence of 21 years, which could be extended to keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Oslo says that with Breivik not expected to express any remorse for his actions, his trial promises to be an ordeal for the families of his victims and for those who survived the attacks.

Journalists, victims and the general public started queueing up outside the Oslo District court more than two hours before the trial was due to start. Even now, as the biggest and arguably the most important court case in Norway since WWII gets under way, security is very relaxed.

The leader of the Labour party's youth movement, Eskil Pedersen, was among those queueing up to get in.

He was a stated target for Anders Behring Breivik on 22 July last year, yet today he has no security detail. People here say this is a sign of Norway's determination not to allow Breivik's actions to compromise this country's open democracy.

The first day is expected to be taken up mainly by going through the charges, Breivik's plea and the technicalities of the trial.

The accused is expected to plead not guilty.

Jorid Nordmelan, a survivor of the Utoeya massacre, told the BBC she would be in court to hear Breivik testify.

"It's a historical date for Norwegians," she said. "We never had a trial like this, so we don't know what's going to happen.

"Prosecutors told me they were going to make the opening statements awful, so that people can just feel what he did right there."