By Balazs Koranyi, ReutersNorwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik was jailed for a maximum
term on Friday when judges declared him sane enough to answer for the
murder of 77 people last year, drawing a smirk of triumph from the
self-styled warrior against Islam.
An unrepentant Breivik, 33, gave the Oslo court a stiff-armed,
clench-fisted salute before being handed the steepest possible penalty,
21 years. His release, however, can be put off indefinitely should he
still pose a threat to a liberal society left traumatized by his bomb
and shooting rampage last July.
Justifying blasting a government building and gunning down dozens of
teenagers at a summer camp as a service to a nation threatened by
immigration, he had said only acquittal or death would be worthy
outcomes. But his biggest concern was being declared insane – the sole
verdict he had said he would appeal.
Judge Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen dismissed a prosecution call for her
to label Breivik mad, a ruling that would have seen him confined
indefinitely to psychiatric care rather than prison.
Some survivors of the slaughter at the Labour party youth camp on
Utoeya island had been keen to see Breivik held clearly responsible for
his actions – and to avoid the insanity verdict that would have
triggered lengthy and traumatic appeal hearings.
For many Norwegians, still shocked by their bloodiest day since World War Two, the details were academic, however.
“He is getting what he deserves,” said Alexandra Peltre, 18, whom
Breivik shot in the thigh on Utoeya. “This is karma striking back at
him. I do not care if he is insane or not, as long as he gets the
punishment that he deserves.”
Breivik, who had surrendered to police on the island without a fight,
admitted blowing up the Oslo government headquarters with a fertilizer
bomb, killing eight, on Friday, July 22, 2011, then shooting 69 at the
ruling party’s summer youth camp.
Dressed in a black suit with a tie and still sporting the under-chin
beard familiar from the 10 weeks of hearings that ended in June, Breivik
smirked when he entered the courtroom and gave his now familiar,
far-right salute when his handcuffs were removed. He smiled again as the
judge read out the verdict.
He will not appeal, his lawyer said. “He told me he will accept this verdict,” Geir Lippestad told Reuters.
A lawyer for some victims and their families said they, too, were
satisfied: “I am pleased, although that’s not really the right word, and
relieved. This is what we hoped for,” said Mette Yvonne Larsen, who
represented some of those affected in court.
“I have already received many messages from clients telling me this
is justice served and they are happy it’s over and will never have to
see him again.”
The killings shook the nation of five million which had prided itself
as a safe haven from much of the world’s troubles, raising questions
about the prevalence of far-right views in a country where oil wealth
has attracted rising immigration.
Breivik will now be kept in isolation inside Ila Prison on the
outskirts of Oslo inside relatively spacious quarters that include a
separate exercise room, a computer and a television.
He had described an insane verdict as “a fate worse than death”. Were
he to have been found insane and decided to appeal, the entire trial
would have had to be repeated.
Breivik justified his killing spree arguing that the centre-left
Labour party is deliberately destroying the nation by encouraging Muslim
immigration. His views, spread over the Internet and aired during the
trial, drew support from a few in Europe but even most of the hardest
right-wing fringe groups kept their distance from the self-confessed
mass killer.
Although his victims were mostly teenagers, with some as young as 14,
he rejected being called a child murderer, arguing that his victims
were brainwashed “cultural Marxists” whose political activism would
adulterate pure Norwegian blood.
He stalked his victims dressed as a policeman, tricking them into
thinking he was the help sent from the shore after the initial attack.
He then shot them from close range before finishing them with a shot to
the head.
“I stand by what I have done and I would still do it again.” he said during his court testimony.
Some Norwegians now believe their country must draw on the experience
to debate issues like immigration as their oil wealth attracts large
numbers of foreign workers.
These are being discussed more openly after the killings by Breivik,
who believed the government’s immigration policies were adulterating
“Norwegian blood” and leading to war with Muslims.
One team of court-appointed psychiatrists concluded he was psychotic
while another came to the opposing conclusion. To make the ruling more
difficult, several other experts who testified described a slew of
mental conditions Breivik probably suffered.
Still, polls showed that around 70 percent of Norway’s public thought
such a complex attack could not have been carried out by a madman and
Breivik had to bear responsibility
Breivik has said he would accept a sane verdict, but derided a jail
term as “pathetic”, and said acquittal or execution were the only
reasonable outcomes.
A commission investigating the attack earlier this month concluded
that all of part of it could have been prevented and intelligence,
police and government blunders likely cost lives.
Source:National Post
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