A court in Oslo sentenced Anders Breivik to the maximum 21 years prison on Friday for terrorism and the murder of 77 people, after declaring him sane.
Prosecutors had asked the Oslo district court judges to sentence the confessed killer to the maximum penalty of 21 years in prison, which can be extended for as long as he is considered a danger to society.
Live Broadcast of Breivik’s Sentencing on EN.RIA.RU >>
On 22 July 2011, Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo, which resulted in eight deaths. He then opened fire at a youth camp of the ruling Labour party on Uteyya Island, killing 69 people. Breivik has admitted carrying out the killings, but the judges only pronounced him sane on Friday.
Breivik, who was charged with "acts of terror," has told the court what he did was "cruel but necessary" to protect Norway from a wave of multiculturalism and a "Muslim invasion." Norwegians calmly sat through his trial, which finished in June, and many took to the streets to condemn his crimes, while celebrating the open society he said he was trying to destroy.
Breivik Declared Sane, Given 21 Years in Jail. VIDEO >>
However, Norway’s prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, came under pressure to resign earlier this month after a report criticized police for failing to prevent or interrupt Breivik’s killing spree. Lawyers for victims of the massacre have also directed their anger at the police, calling for heads to roll. Mette Yvonne Larsen, one of the lawyers representing Breivik' victims, said lives were lost because of police incompetence.
Prosecutors had called for him to be declared insane, but public opinion overwhelmingly favors that he be deemed sane. During his trial, Breivik has fought to avoid psychiatric incarceration, which he has called "a fate worse than death." His intent on being found sane is to ensure his Islamophobic ideology is not written off as crazy raving, Al Jazeera reported.
Norwegian Killer Breivik Jailed for 21 Years. Photos from the courtroom >>
A member of his defense team told a Norwegian Verdens Gang newspaper last week that the acclaimed mass murderer is planning to write an autobiography, in which he would talk about two Norwegian cell organizations to which he belonged, a claim prosecutors say is a proof of his insanity.
In court, Breivik claims to be part of a militant anti-Islamist network founded in London in 2002 called Knights Templar. He further claimed that he went to Liberia and London in 2002 to meet three other "militant nationalists" to form the network, which borrowed the methodology of al-Qaida. Breivik said he intends to say more about those trips in his books. Investigators said however that there was "overwhelming evidence" that the far-right nationalist network, the Knights Templar, did not exist.
