The man who murdered 77 people in the bomb and gun attacks of July 22, 2011, has been given the maximum sentence by a Norwegian court. Anders Behring Breivik will go to prison for 21 years for the horrific racially-motivated act of political terrorism against Muslim immigration in Norway.
One of the court’s main responsibilities was to determine whether or not Breivik was mentally competent. An insanity ruling would have meant he would be detained in a psychiatric hospital for treatment instead of carrying out sentencing in prison, however after two disparate psychological evaluations the court declared Breivik sane and fit for serving jail time.
According to reports, Breivik has received hundreds of letters in prison while awaiting sentencing and has been spending hours every day writing letters as well as an alleged memoir of his experiences detailing the day of the massacre. Prison officials are considering restrictions on Breivik’s massive letter-writing activities because of the risk he could incite future terrorist acts by other right-wing extremists. You would hope the Norwegian government will do whatever they can to prevent the spread of his fear-invoking ideology.
The Guardian writes that the 33-year-old smirked as the court’s verdict was delivered and used his chance to address the court by apologising to “militant nationalists” across Europe, apparently for not killing more people during his two attacks before the judge interrupted.
Let’s hope the verdict can bring some peace to the families of the victims.
Photo by Odd Andersen for AFP via Getty Images
