OSLO: As the trial of Anders Behring Breivik comes to an end, Norway is just starting to shape its future as a nation no longer isolated by its great wealth from a troubled outside world.
Survivors of Breivik's massacre are waiting for Friday when an Oslo court passes judgment on the anti-Muslim gunman, hoping to return to something like the lives they led before he slaughtered 77 people last year.
Norwegian society, however, must still balance its liberal and conservative traditions exposed by Breivik's 10-week trial as it decides how to deal with security and intelligence surveillance, gun controls and rising immigration.
“We are no longer so naive to believe that Norway is the best country in the world,” said Mette Yvonne Larsen, one of the three lawyers in court representing victims of Breivik's attack on July 22, 2011. “It has made us understand we are a part of international society. We cannot solve problems by ourselves.”
For survivors such as Khamshajiny Gunaratnam, the most pressing need is to hear the verdict after a trial that went into every detail of Breivik's bomb attack in Oslo that killed eight, and his shooting dead on Utoeya island of 69 people, mostly teenagers.
“After Aug. 24, we can be done with it,” Gunaratnam told Reuters.
With what witnesses described as a “joyous battle cry”, Breivik arrived at the island youth camp of the ruling Labour Party dressed as a policeman.
Gunaratnam, aged 24, escaped the massacre by jumping into icy lake waters and swimming for her life. She survived because Breivik was busy shooting her friends in the head at point blank range, presuming she would drown.
Beyond the survivors' personal feelings, the country of five million people faces difficult decisions following its worst massacre since World War Two.
Norway's huge oil wealth has long set it apart from other nations. It has prospered outside the European Union, and its economy is expected to grow more than three percent this year while many European neighbors are stuck in recession.
Likewise, its strong political and legal systems mean it has avoided the corruption that afflicts many other oil producers.
