Oslo court sentences Breivik to 21 years in prison for his killing spree that left 77 people dead
OSLO: Norway’s mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was found sane and sentenced to 21 years in prison yesterday for a bloodbath that left 77 people dead and traumatised the normally tranquil nation.
An Oslo court’s unanimous verdict finding Breivik responsible for “acts of terror” was in line with what the far-right extremist himself wanted, bringing to an end a spectacular 10-week trial for his devastating twin attacks.
On July 22, 2011, Breivik set off a bomb in Oslo that killed eight people and then took the lives of 69 more victims, mostly teenagers, in a shooting frenzy at an island summer camp.
“The ruling is unanimous,” presiding judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen told the court.
“He is sentenced to prison for 21 years, with a minimum of 10 years,” she added. Under Norwegian law the sentence could be extended.
Breivik, wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and a grey tie, smiled as the verdict was read out in court.
At the beginning of proceedings, after his handcuffs were removed, he made his far-right salute as he had during the trial, defiantly touching his clenched right fist to his chest and then stretching his arm out in front of him.
Survivors of the Utoeya island massacre took to Twitter immediately to comment on the sentencing, with Emma Martinovic tweeting: “YEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!”
And Viljar Hansse, who took a bullet to the head in the massacre, tweeted: “Finished. Period.”
Breivik has previously said he would not appeal a prison sentence, as he wanted to be found sane so his Islamophobic and anti-multicultural ideology would not be considered the rantings of a lunatic.
And another Utoeya survivor, Ingrid Nymoen, tweeted: “This crap is finally over. Life can start now.”
Knut Storberget, who was Norway’s justice minister at the time of the attacks, hailed the verdict, telling television channel TV2: “It’s a good basis for him to stay in prison for the rest of his life.”
“It’s the heaviest sentence he could get.”
Norway’s penal code does not have the death penalty or life in prison, and the maximum prison term for Breivik’s charges is 21 years. However, inmates who after that are still considered a threat to society can be held indefinitely.
The 33-year-old loner had confessed to the attacks, seeing himself as a Nordic warrior against Europe’s “Muslim invasion” and all those who promote multiculturalism.
The main question the court had to determine was whether he was sane and could be held responsible for his actions.
Ironically, the prison sentence is not only what Breivik wanted, but also what most of the families of the victims and the general public in Norway desired.
But Prosecutor Svein Holden had called for him to be sent to closed psychiatric care, arguing that “it would be worse to sentence someone who is psychotic to prison than to send someone who is not psychotic to psychiatric care.” — AFP