With a neo-fascist salute and tears only for himself, Anders Behring Breivik goes on trial

Anders Behring Breivik, the far-Right killer who traumatised Norway by massacring 77 people, was finally forced to confront the cold reality of his crimes yesterday (Monday) when his trial opened with the first full account of his three hours and nine minutes of slaughter.

The fate of his 77 victims, 67 of whom were shot in cold blood on Utoya island outside Oslo, was disclosed in remorseless detail. The self-styled "Knight Templar" was also compelled to watch searing footage of the moment that the bomb he planted exploded.

Breivik sat in an Oslo court, barely 200 yards from the exact spot where his device detonated, and watched as CCTV film of the blast was shown over and over, from every angle. Bystanders were cut down in a blinding flash amid swirling clouds of debris.

By the end of a sequence of images deemed too distressing for broadcast, even Breivik was visibly struggling to maintain his air of cocksure defiance.

Earlier, he had given the clenched fist salute of the neo-fascist Right when he arrived in the dock. Before him lay an indictment charging him with "offences on a scale that has never previously been experienced in our country in modern times".

Breivik, 33, claimed that he was struggling to save Europe from radical Islam when he detonated his car bomb outside the prime minister's office in Oslo, killing eight people on July 22 last year.

He then drove to nearby Utoya island, filled with camping teenagers, where he embarked on a 112 minute rampage, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a pump-action shotgun, methodically shooting his victims. Two others drowned while trying to flee in terror.

Yesterday, he appeared in a dark suit with a gold tie, his top button left undone in a gesture of studied insolence. Breivik smiled as he shook hands with his lawyers and a team of psychiatrists, who disagree over the question of his sanity.

Moments after proceedings began, Breivik, a former telephone salesman and customer service adviser, was asked whether he had anything to say.

He immediately attacked the presiding judge, Elisabeth Arntzen. "I do not recognise the Norwegian courts. You have a mandate from political parties who support multiculturalism," he said. "Furthermore, it is well known that you are a personal friend of the sister of Gro Harlem Bruntland [a former Norwegian prime minister]."

The judge asked: "You are raising a personal objection to me?"

Breivik retreated and gave a non-committal answer: "I'm just informing you that I do not recognise the court."

Moments later, he bristled with defiance over being described by the judge as unemployed. "That is not correct," he said indignantly. "I am a writer and I work in prison."

As for how he answered the charge of committing a "terrorist act" that cost 77 lives, Breivik did not deny culpability. "I acknowledge the acts, but I do not plead guilty," he said. "I will claim that I was acting in self-defence."

Those whom Breivik killed - apparently for his own protection - ranged in age from 14 to 51. The full extent of the carnage he inflicted was laid out.

Breivik listened impassively as Inga Bejer Engh, the prosecutor, detailed the fate of every victim. A 61-year-old man, who happened to be nearby when the car bomb exploded, survived the blast but endured 15 operations. A 41-year-old woman was disfigured by a "30cm long thick wooden splinter, which penetrated the left ear".

After reaching the island, he killed Birgitte Smetbak, 15, by shooting her "through the left shoulder and again in the back of the right knee". Another girl, Margrethe Boyum Kloven, 16, was "shot through the head".

Inside a crowded cafe, Breivik shot 17-year-old Silje Merete Fjellbu "six times, once through her head".

As this litany was read out, Breivik seemed to follow the list of victims name by name.

He nodded slightly, as if in recognition, when the prosecutor noted that he shot Lene Maria Bergum, 19, "through the mouth" with a bullet that "penetrated through to the central vertical column".

Breivik studied the tally of victims, as if impassively ticking off the items on a shopping list.

The court heard that one 18-year-old was shot in the head "crushing the facial skeleton and cutting the jugular vein". Breivik then fired another round "into the left thigh".

And so it went on: a 17-year-old girl was shot "through the left eye shattering the skull". One girl of 16 was critically injured when Breivik shot her "through the face, both forearms and the left breast".

The list of victims took 51 minutes to read.

As the litany continued, Breivik's composure remained implacable: he continued following the names on the list, perhaps because by looking down at the indictment, he avoided all eye contact.

Nonetheless, a flicker of relief crossed his face when, at last, the toll ended.

Then the court heard what turned out to be a tale of survival.

A desperate call to Norway's police from a teenage girl, trapped inside the island's cafe at the height of the massacre, was replayed.

"Shots have been fired at Utoya [the island]," she says, while gunfire echoes in the background. "I've seen several who have been injured. There's complete panic here."

Then she adds: "He's inside, he's inside."

"Are you there?" asks an alarmed operator. "Yes, I'm here, I can hear the shots. I'm in a toilet. I've locked myself inside a booth."

"You're still there?" says the operator. "Yes," the girl replies. "He's just outside. He's coming, he's coming quickly." Remarkably, Renate Tarnes escaped. But her boyfriend was among Breivik's victims.

Then, for perhaps the first time in history, a killer was forced to watch the precise instant when his bomb exploded. The court saw CCTV footage of Breivik parking his white van outside a government building, known as "H block".

After setting a seven-minute fuse at 3.18pm, he abandoned the vehicle and walked away. As a clock counted down, the camera showed people strolling past, unaware that the van held 950kg of explosives.

A man carrying a red bag walked by, followed by a woman in a red top. They probably survived - some minutes remained before the bomb detonated. At 3.23 a man in a white T-shirt began walking directly towards the van. In all innocence, he headed casually for Breivik's bomb. At 3.24, a motorcyclist pulled up within feet of the vehicle.

Everyone in court realised that they were watching the last minute of the lives of those two human beings. At 3.25, the bomb exploded in a vivid, overwhelming flash. The motorcyclist and the pedestrian were both consumed in a cloud of smoke and wreckage.

Then the blast was shown over and over again, from every available CCTV camera. People were scythed down by its force. In the capricious way of explosions, one man was shown being flung to the ground, only to stand up again, dazed but apparently unhurt.

As the explosion was replayed, differing human reactions become apparent. Some people took cover in the foetal position when the blast happened, others just ran.

In one crowded street, the blast triggered utter panic. Two people began to run, then three. Suddenly, the herd instinct of the terrified took over: everyone started to flee. An entire streetful of people was shown running in terror.

Others were either stunned or remarkably phlegmatic. One middle aged man clad in a shirt and tie, with an official pass around his neck, was pictured walking out of his office door to witness a scene of utter destruction. His hands were in his pockets. He looked outside. He turned around and went back.

The court was not spared the knowledge of what happened inside those offices. One moment, they were shown as identikit rooms; suddenly the cameras revealed ceilings caving in, windows shattering, glass flying.

As the replays went on and on, Breivik remained tight-lipped and impassive. But he was clearly struggling to retain his composure.

His defence lawyer gave up the effort and winced, studying the floor. When the sequences mercifully ended, a flicker of relief crossed Breivik's face.

His self-control dissolved only once. When the court watched a video that he made about the alleged evils of Islam, Breivik wept openly.

He showed himself to be a man capable of being moved only by his own propaganda.

The case continues.