First Court Hearing for Anders Behring Breivik Held in Private

Anders Behring Breivik, the man who has admitted to committing the recent terror attacks in Norway, has made his first appearance in court, behind closed doors.

The first court hearing was conducted in private after a ruling by Judge Kim Heger, following a request from police.

A statement by the court said: "Based on information in the case the court finds that today's detention hearing should be held behind closed doors.

"It is clear that there is concrete information that a public hearing with the suspect present could quickly lead to an extraordinary and very difficult situation in terms of the investigation and security."

Mr Breivik, 32, arrived with heavy protection as masses of people waited outside the court for his arrival. He is being charged under law 147a: Acts Of Terrorism.

Geir Lippestad, Mr Breivik's lawyer, made two requests on behalf of his client; that the hearing be made public and that Mr Breivik be allowed to wear uniform. It is unclear exactly what uniform this would be but the request was declined by the Judge.

Some have called for the entire trial to be held in private to prevent Mr Breivik from being given a platform for his views.

Mr Breivik is believed to have admitted to both the Oslo bombing and the Utoya island shooting. Mr Lippestad said: "He has said that he believed the actions were atrocious, but that in his head they were necessary."

The court said after the hearing that Mr Breivik wished to protect Norway from "cultural Marxism", also opposing the Norwegian Labour party and Muslims in Norway.

Police said that the suspect had not admitted criminal responsibility, despite admitting to carrying out the acts.

Mr Lippestad added: "He wished to attack society and the structure of society."

Mr Breivik could face up to 21 years in jail if convicted. This could be extended if he is deemed a threat to society.

Prosecutors are pushing for Breivik to be held for eight weeks, to give them time to prepare their case against him.

At 10am GMT there was one minutes silence for the victims of the attacks.

Some members of the camp where the shooting took place are yet to be found. It is thought some may have drowned after running into the water to escape being shot.

Police have not ruled out the possibility that more people were involved in planning the attacks but that they are not searching for a second attacker. Breivik has claimed that there were "two further cells" in his organisation.

Breivik is to be held in custody for eight weeks, four in isolation.