Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian man who massacred 77 people in a terrorist attack, was sentenced to prison on Friday after prosecutors failed to prove he was insane.
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Prosecutors wanted to show the court that Breivik was a madman and not part of an anti-Muslim crusade.
According to the Associated Press:
Breivik smiled with apparent satisfaction when Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen read the ruling, declaring him sane enough to be held criminally responsible and sentencing him to “preventive detention,” which means it is unlikely he will ever be released.
The sentence brings a form of closure to Norway, which was shaken to its core by the bomb and gun attacks on July 22, 2011, because Breivik’s lawyers said before the ruling that he would not appeal any ruling that did not declare him insane.
The five-judge panel in the Oslo district court unanimously convicted Breivik, 33, of terrorism and premeditated murder and ordered him imprisoned for a period between 10 and 21 years, the maximum allowed under Norwegian law. Such sentences can be extended as long as an inmate is considered too dangerous to be released, and legal experts say Breivik will almost certainly spend the rest of his life in prison.
Hopefully the families of the 77 victims can get some form of closure knowing that the man who killed their loved one will spend the rest of his life in jail.
SOURCE: AP
