Breivik compares his pain to victims' pain

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OSLO, Norway, April 23 (UPI) -- Confessed mass killer Anders Breivik apologized for killing anyone who had no political ties when he bombed a Norwegian government building in Oslo last year.

During testimony Monday, Breivik compared the pain he caused for victims' families to his own feelings of loss, saying he lost contact with friends and family after the July 22 attacks in which 77 people died, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported.

"The only difference was that for my part it was a choice," he testified.

He said he wanted to apologize for killing innocent people in his government building bombing. Breivik confessed to killing eight people in the bombing of a government building in downtown Oslo and 69 others during a shooting spree on Utoya Island outside the city.

"I would like to offer a large apology to those who were injured or even killed in the bombing of an Oslo government building as they were just passing by and had no political connections," Breivik said.

Breivik told the court he didn't shoot people on the ferry to Utoya Island because of his "conscience," the Telegraph reported.

He said he didn't "want to hurt civilians or those that were not politically engaged."

After answering a few questions about a photograph of him in a uniform, Breivik stopped, saying the prosecution was trying to make fun of him.

He said he decided against wearing his uniform to court in Oslo because "there are psychiatrists in court analyzing me."

Court adjourned for the day after the judge read a statement by the Norwegian Medical Commission that criticized a second report on Breivik's sanity, questioning the methodology, not the content.

The commission requested that another report be completed and psychiatric expert Agnar Aspaas, who participated in the second report, told the court he would submit a report "during the course of the week."

The report in question found Breivik sane; the first report did not.