Story highlights Survivor says he owes Breivik "a punch in the face" 
 
 Breivik's lawyer says it is important to his client that he be seen as sane 
 
 Prosecutors play a recording of a call for help during the shooting spree 
 
 Breivik is accused of killing 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage 
 
 The man accused of killing 77 people in a bomb-and-gun rampage in Norway last summer said his actions were justified to save the country from multicultural forces as he went on trial Monday. 
 
 Anders Behring Breivik raised his arm in a fascist-style salute -- a symbol of "strength, power and defiance against Marxist tyrants," to quote the 1,500-page manifesto attributed to him -- as soon as his handcuffs were removed in court Monday. 
 
 "I acknowledge the acts but do not plead guilty," he told the court. 
 
 His trial on charges of voluntary homicide and committing acts of terror is expected to last up to 10 weeks. He is accused of setting off a bomb in central Oslo that killed eight people, then fatally shooting 69 people at a youth camp run by the ruling Labour Party on nearby Utoya Island. 
 
 Dressed in a black suit and sporting a jawline beard, Breivik listened impassively as prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh read the charges, describing how dozens of young people were shot to death. 
 
 Breivik says his rampage was meant to save Norway from being taken over by multicultural forces and to prevent ethnic cleansing of Norwegians, said his lawyer, Geir Lippestad. In his manifesto, Breivik railed against Muslim immigration and European liberalism, including the Labour Party, which he said was allowing the "Islamification of Europe." And in court, he called the trial political and objected to the judge's friendship with a former justice minister. 
 
 "I do not recognize the Norwegian court. You've gotten your mandate from political parties that support multiculturalism," he said. 
 
 "OK, we will make a note of that general objection," Judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen said curtly. 
 
 Prosecutors played a recording of a terrified girl phoning for help during the shooting rampage, a recording punctuated by constant firing in the background. They also showed security camera video of the central Oslo bomb blast that killed eight people, images that participants in the trial watched with ashen faces. 
 
 Breivik sat in court without restraints, behind a bulletproof glass barrier set up to protect him during the six hours of proceedings. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg vowed to double down on Norway's traditions of liberal democracy in response to the attacks, and Breivik's trial appears to be no exception. 
 
 "He was so close to having a bullet between his eyes. The police were so close," said Jorn Overby, who rescued some 15 people from the waters off Utoya during the massacre. But Overby told CNN that he owes Breivik only "a punch in the face for firing at me." 
 
 "He will get the treatment he needs," Overby said. 
 
 Experts have given different opinions about Breivik's sanity, which will be a factor in determining what punishment he receives if convicted. Norway does not have the death penalty, and sentencing options could include imprisonment or confining him to a mental facility. 
 
 But Breivik's defense will try to prove he was sane at the time of the killings, Lippestad said Monday. Lippestad told reporters after the hearing that the defendant had his reasons, but would not disclose them. 
 
 It is important to Breivik that he be considered sane, Lippestad said after the hearing. 
 
 Prosecutors outlined Breivik's life before the killings, showing a photo of the messy room where he lived at his mother's house, listing his six failed businesses and referring to his many hours playing the online game "World of Warcraft." Prosecutors said he had "no job, no salary, no money from the government" and was "living off his savings." 
 
 The defendant smiled briefly when his "Warcraft" character was shown, one of the few times he showed emotion on Monday. 
 
 He also appeared to be overcome with emotion, fighting back tears, when part of his video manifesto "Knights Templar 2083" was played in court. Lippestad declined to say why Breivik wept, citing attorney-client privilege. But lawyers for the victims said: "No one thought he was crying for the victims." 
 
 A survivor of Utoya Island, Tore Sinding Bekkedal, said he was surprised to experience "a strange feeling of relief" when prosecutors switched from listing the names of the dead to those of the wounded. 
 
 "It was an intense gratitude, Bekkedal said during a break in the proceedings. "It took me by surprise that I felt it, that these wonderful people are still among us, that we managed to save these ones at least." 
 
 Breivik is to begin testifying Tuesday, and asked Monday for his testimony to be broadcast, claiming it as a human right. Most of the relatives of the victims do not want that to happen, according to lawyers who represent the families of victims and survivors. 
 
 "It's going to be 10 weeks of hell ... to hear this man, to hear his explanation of why he did it and how he did it," said Trond Henry Blattmann, whose son was killed on Utoya Island. 
 
 In November, prosecutors said psychiatrists had determined that Breivik was paranoid and schizophrenic at the time of the attacks and during 13 interviews experts conducted with him afterward. However, the court sought a second opinion because of the importance of the question of sanity to Breivik's trial. 
 
 In a report released this month, two court-appointed psychiatric experts said Breivik was sane at the time of the killings. 
 
 The victims on Utoya Island were among 700 mostly young people attending a Labour Party camp, the same camp Stoltenberg said he had attended every summer since 1974. 
 
 "I think that one of the main messages from Norway after the tragedy ... was that we were going to protect our democracy. And part of our democracy is the divisions of responsibilities between the government and the courts. It's up to the courts to decide whether this man is going to be sentenced or not, whether he is insane or not. It's not a question which is going to be decided by politicians. That's part of our democratic society," Stoltenberg said. 
 
 Tore Bjorgo, a terror expert and professor at Norwegian Police University College, said Breivik appears to be overly concerned about his self-image and sees himself in the role of a "fantastic, great person who will save Europe." 
 
 "It's we who should decide what kind of a society we want; it's not the terrorists," he said. "And the logic of terrorism is to try to provoke responses to get people to act in ways the terrorists want, and it was important that we didn't do that. We didn't go down that road, and that was, I think, a big victory." ||||| The man who carried out bomb and gun attacks in Norway last year which left 77 people dead has pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial in Oslo. 
 
 Anders Behring Breivik attacked a youth camp organised by the governing Labour party on the island of Utoeya, after setting off a car bomb in the capital. 
 
 He told the court he "acknowledged" the acts committed, but said he did not accept criminal responsibility. 
 
 The prosecution earlier gave a detailed account of how each person was killed. 
 
 If the court decides he is criminally insane, he will be committed to psychiatric care; if he is judged to be mentally stable, he will be jailed. 
 
 In the latter case, he faces a sentence of 21 years, which could be extended to keep him behind bars for the rest of his life. 
 
 The 33-year-old Norwegian was found insane in one examination, while a second assessment made public last week found him mentally competent. 
 
 At the scene The prosecution presented details of the attacks on Utoeya island, which included a harrowing emergency telephone call from one of the youths there. More than 50 gunshots and screaming could be heard in the background. Breivik remained seemingly unmoved throughout. Yet earlier he broke down in tears as the prosecution screened his own propaganda video, which he posted online shortly before his attacks. A report from Norwegian TV2 said that by reading his lips he appeared to tell one of his defence team that "it was an emotional video". Breivik also showed emotion as the prosecution showed illustrations and video from the car bomb attack in Oslo city centre. While victims and their families cried as the blast could be seen, Breivik smiled on several occasions. 
 
 'Self-defence' 
 
 Dressed in a dark suit, Breivik smiled as he entered the courtroom and a guard removed his handcuffs. He then gave a closed-fist salute. 
 
 He later told the lead judge, Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen: "I do not recognise the Norwegian courts. You have received your mandate from political parties which support multiculturalism." 
 
 He also said he did not recognise the authority of Judge Arntzen, claiming she was friends with the sister of former Prime Minister and Labour party leader Gro Harlem Brundtland. 
 
 The judge noted the objections, which Breivik's lawyer said were not official, and said the defence could follow up on them in their opening arguments. 
 
 Breivik described his occupation as a "writer", currently working from prison. 
 
 Prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh read out the charges against him and gave an extensively detailed account of how each person was killed or injured in last year's attacks. 
 
 She said the attacks "created fear in the Norwegian population", adding: "The defendant has committed very serious crimes, on a scale which hasn't been experienced in our country in modern times." 
 
 Breivik showed no emotion, looking down at the table in front of him. 
 
 At the end of the indictment, he told the court: "I acknowledge the acts, but not criminal guilt - I claim I was doing it in self-defence." 
 
 Breivik has already confessed to the attacks on 22 July. In the car bombing outside government buildings in Oslo, eight people were killed and 209 wounded. 
 
 He killed 67 people and wounded 33 - most of them teenagers - in his shooting spree at the youth camp on Utoeya. A further two people died by falling or drowning. 
 
 At a court hearing in February, Breivik said his killing spree was "a preventative attack against state traitors", who were guilty of "ethnic cleansing" because they supported a multicultural society. 
 
 His lawyer has said his only regret is that "he did not go further". 
 
 "It is difficult to understand, but I am telling you this to prepare people for his testimony," Geir Lippestad told reporters before the trial. 
 
 Breivik's Norway attacks 8 people killed and 209 injured by bomb in Oslo 
 
 69 people killed on Utoeya island, of them 34 aged between 14 and 17 
 
 33 injured on Utoeya 
 
 Nearly 900 people affected by attacks In pictures: Breivik trial 
 
 Investigators have found no evidence to support Breivik's claims that he belonged to a secret "resistance" movement, the "Knights Templar", named after a military and religious order founded during the Crusades to fight the enemies of Christendom. 
 
 "In our opinion such a network does not exist," prosecutor Svein Holden told the court on Monday. 
 
 A 12-minute-long film about the evils of "multiculturalism" and "Islamic demographic warfare", which Breivik posted online on the day of the attacks, was shown in court before the trial was adjourned for lunch. As it concluded, he could be seen wiping tears from his eyes. 
 
 Later, previously unreleased surveillance footage of the Oslo bombing was shown. 
 
 Some of the survivors and relatives of those killed reportedly gasped after footage was played of Breivik's explosives-packed vehicle exploding, followed by scenes of panic as people fled and pieces of metal fell to the ground. But the defendant was impassive, and at times even smirked. 
 
 The court later adjourned for the day. 
 
 At a news conference following the adjournment, Mr Lippestad said Breivik considered he was at war and therefore felt he should be tried by a military tribunal. 
 
 Asked about Breivik's tears during the first day, he said "part of the explanation" might be that his client considered his actions "necessary to prevent a war in Europe". 
 
 Parts of the trial will be shown on television, but the court will not allow Breivik's testimony or that of his witnesses to be broadcast. Breivik is scheduled to take the stand for about a week, starting on Tuesday. 
 
 The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Oslo says that with Breivik not expected to express any remorse for his actions, his trial promises to be an ordeal for the families of those killed and for those who survived. 
 
 Jorid Nordmelan, a survivor of the Utoeya massacre, told the BBC she would be in court to hear Breivik testify. 
 
 "It's a historical date for Norwegians," she said. "We never had a trial like this, so we don't know what's going to happen. 
 
 "Prosecutors told me they were going to make the opening statements awful, so that people can just feel what he did right there." 
 
 Police have sealed off streets around the courtroom, which was specially built for the trial to accommodate more than 200 people. Glass partitions have been put up to separate the victims and their families from Breivik.
– As his trial began in Oslo today, Anders Behring Breivik told the court that the slaughter of 77 people in Norway was a matter of ... self-defense. "I acknowledge the acts but do not plead guilty, and I claim I was doing it in self-defense," he said. Upon entering the courtroom, he smiled then held up his fist in a salute; he told the judge he doesn't "recognize the Norwegian courts. You have received your mandate from political parties which support multiculturalism." While the court detailed the killings of dozens, he appeared emotionless, CNN reports. He did, however, shed tears after the court showed an anti-immigration video he posted on the Internet on the day of the tragedy, the BBC reports. The question of Breivik's sanity remains open following conflicting exams; his punishment hinges on the decision. Meanwhile, "it's going to be 10 weeks of hell," says the parent of a victim, "to hear this man, to hear his explanation of why he did it, and how he did it."