'Norway gunman to be held at least until February 6'

Right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed killer of 77 people in twin attacks in July in Norway, can remain in custody for 12 more weeks, an Oslo court ruled today.

Right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, the confessed killer of 77 people in twin attacks in July in Norway, can remain in custody for 12 more weeks, an Oslo court ruled on Monday.

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The 32-year-old will remain in custody until a new hearing on his continued detention is held on February 6, the court ruled.

Judge Torkjel Nesheim meanwhile said the confessed killer's visits and correspondence will be strictly restricted for the first eight weeks and he will have no access to media for the first four weeks of the renewed detention period.

During the hearing, which was Behring Breivik's first public court appearance since the attacks, he asked permission to address the survivors and families of his victims sitting in the courtroom alongside journalists and members of the general public, but was turned down.

His lawyer, Geir Lippestad, said after the hearing he did not know what his client had planned to say.

Sixty-nine people, mostly teens, died in the shooting massacre.

The right-wing extremist has however insisted he is not criminally guilty, claiming his acts were "cruel but necessary," and has rejected the legitimacy of the Oslo court to judge him.