Anders Behring Breivik: Norway court finds him sane
Anders Breivik: "I cannot legitimise Oslo district court by accepting the sentence"
A Norwegian court has found that mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is sane and sentenced him to 21 years in jail.
Breivik, who admitted killing 77 people when he bombed central Oslo and then opened fire at an island youth camp, told the court he would not appeal.
He insisted he was sane and refused to plead guilty, saying last year's attacks were necessary to stop the "Islamisation" of Norway.
Prosecutors had called for him to be considered insane.
Breivik was convicted of terrorism and premeditated murder, and given the maximum sentence of 21 years' imprisonment.
However, that can be prolonged at a later date if he is deemed to remain a danger to society.
Planned attackAt the scene
Many relatives and survivors reacted with relief as Judge Wenche Arntzen declared Anders Breivik to be sane, sentencing him to at least 21 years in prison.
The mother of one 16-year-old girl who Breivik shot dead on Utoeya island said she felt "a little happiness" at the fact he was found to be sane.
Still, she said, she had wished he could have been sentenced to 21 years in prison for each of the 77 lives he took.
Others said Breivik the man had for some time now been irrelevant to them, and that the outcome of the trial could never bring their loved ones back.
Delivering the verdict, Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen said that the court considered Breivik to be suffering from "narcissistic personality characteristics" but not psychosis.
She imposed a sentence of "preventive detention", a special prison term for criminals considered dangerous to society.
She set the minimum length of imprisonment to 10 years.
Afterwards Breivik said he did not recognise the court, which he contended had "sided with the multicultural majority in parliament", but said he would not appeal as this would legitimise the proceedings.
Prosecutors - who had argued the defendant was insane - also said they would not challenge the verdict.
Some of the survivors and relatives of his victims welcomed the verdict and the end of the trial.
"Now we can have peace and quiet," Per Balch Soerensen, whose daughter was among those killed in the shootings on on Utoeya island, told Denmark's TV2.
"He doesn't mean anything to me; he is just air."
Court-appointed psychiatrists disagreed on Breivik's sanity. A first team which examined him declared him to be a paranoid schizophrenic, but the second found he was sane.
Norway 2011 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
Before the verdict, Breivik said psychiatric care would be "worse than death".
He will serve his sentence at Oslo's high-security Ila Prison, where he has been held in isolation for most of the time since his arrest.
Initially he will be kept isolated from casual contact with other prisoners.
Breivik, 33, carried out the meticulously planned attack on 22 July 2011, wearing a fake police uniform, and methodically hunted down his victims.
He accused the governing Labour Party of promoting multiculturalism and endangering Norway's identity.
Some victims at the Labour Party youth camp on Utoeya island were shot in the head at point-blank range.
Ahead of the verdict, security barriers were put up outside the district court in Oslo.
A glass partition separated Breivik from relatives of victims in a courtroom custom-built for the trial.
Remote-controlled cameras filmed the proceedings, sending the images to courtrooms around Norway where other relatives could watch the hearing live.
Breivik's trial, which began in March and lasted for 10 weeks, heard graphic testimony from some of the survivors of his attacks.
Mohamad Hadi Hamed, 21, who is now in a wheelchair, told the court how his left arm and his left leg were amputated after he was shot by Breivik.
Another survivor, Einar Bardal, 17, described how he was trying to escape when he heard a loud bang, followed by a loud noise in his head.
Experts in far-right ideology told the trial Breivik's ideas should not be seen as the ramblings of a madman.
Breivik's attacks ignited a debate about the nature of tolerance and democracy in Norway.




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Comment number 550.
tht1324th August 2012 - 21:57
As a Brit born raised and living in norway, I can say this is the result everyone wanted, although others may think its too mild, chances are the review system will be used.
Also the norwegian penal system is about rehab not punishment, which has also leant itself to the low level of crime and even lower level or repeat offending.
I couldn't be happier than to have been raised around these values.
Link to this (Comment number 550)
Comment number 504.
roland24th August 2012 - 20:55
I hope now that this narcissistic and psychotic individual will now not receive publicity and we focus on the dignity and courage of survivors, family and friends. the worst punishment he could receive apart from incarceration would be to know of the contempt and scorn in which he is held and how pathetic and unimaginative his so called opinions really are.
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Comment number 254.
theoddgoal24th August 2012 - 16:30
The article states that the time in prison may be extended past the maximum of 21 years if he is still considered a threat to society. I would imagine that in crafting sentences, Norway never considered there would be a crime of this magnitude. I doubt whether this monster will ever get out. How could anyone justify his release at any time after such premeditated barbarity?
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Comment number 203.
MattOb124th August 2012 - 15:47
The reason the jail-time is so low is because Norway has the lowest amount of prison population in the world, on top of the highest peace rate. Norway has never had a problem with people like these so they've never known what the correct jail time should be. It definitely should be increased but you cannot blame the system in this case because Norway has been successful at keeping the peace.
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Comment number 159.
lizE24th August 2012 - 15:23
As a Brit who grew up in Norway and as someone who lost one of my childhood friends in the shooting, I understand the frustration around his scentence. But I also understand the Norwegian justice system. It's a picture of how Norwegians think. Although no one will ever forgive him, death penalty is the "easy" way out and it would be sinking to his level. Let's instead be happy he's locked away!
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Comments 5 of 10