The defence lawyer of Anders Behring Breivik, Geir Lippestad, guested Studentafton. Where, attention lay on the few days which shaped him but also the world.
“They wanted me to defend this man, how could I, why did he want me to defend him?”
These were questions which Geir Lippestad asked himself as he sat alone in the interrogation room in the bowels of Oslo police headquarters, the day after the attack.
On thursday he discussed his experiences to a combined audience of nearly 600 people who attended Studentafton.
That fateful day in July 2011, was a day of contrasts for Geir as he arrived center stage in Oslo as explosions tore through its political heart. The day was as big a contrast as you could imagine to the day before:
“The day before had been like a dream, the sun shone, I was out sailing with my family.”
His speech on Thursday’s Studentafton focused on the questions of understanding, acceptance and change, not just for himself but also for Norway and the world, in coming to terms with what happened. The implications of his fateful choice to defend Breivik are something which he never forget:
“When I came home that day, people had defiled my house, people wondered if I to was a right-wing radical.”
One fact which he carries with him is the question over why Breivik choose him to be his lawyer,
“As I sat there, I was trying to visualise who this man was and why he’d done it”
At that moment Geir was left in the dark, just like the rest of the world.
Geir faced the media as he suddenly thrusted into the spotlight as the world’s media clung to his words.
“I didn’t ask for this but have never been doubtful of my choice to defend him, sure I’ve thought about is but its part of my job. As I told my team, we’re doing the right thing for ourselves, the people and the nation.”
Life throws it’s curveballs, something Geir knows all to well.
“The mob wanted to string him up and be done with it, but by doing so we would betray the fundamental qualities of our nation and Breivik would have died a martyr.”
Geir explains the way he justified taking up the job;
“We had to be seen to do the right thing.”
With the mob waiting in the wings, the actions taken by Geir and his team were scrutinised day and night.
The legacy which Geir Lippestad now carries is of being part of a process which changed Norway, but also the attitudes within in it.
“I saw first hand how the intolerance shifted to tolerance under a short period of time, it defines what it means to be Norwegian, people came together, I believe its one of the symptoms of democracy”
Yet he remains skeptical over the long term implications and the influences this event will have on people in the future.
What questions should be asked from this evening? The radical material which is so readily available online, the support Breivik has garnered in several countries? Post-Utoya Norway? Questions which will no doubt follow Geir Lippestad into the night.
