An Oslo district court on Friday morning ruled that mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is sane and will be held in preventive detention for a maximum of 21 years, minimum 10 years.
The verdict was unanimous. After announcing the verdict, the judge began reading a statement of grounds on which the judgement is based, and said this would take several hours, including intermissions and a lunch break.
Breivik has admitted killing 77 people and wounding more than 240 others when he bombed the Government main office building in central Oslo and then opened fire at an island Labour Party youth camp last year.
Breivik, 33, has himself insisted that he is sane, but has refused to plead guilty and has sought to justify his attacks by saying they were necessary to stop the "Islamisation" of Norway.
He has stated that if he was declared sane by the court, he would not appeal the setence handed down.
The maximum sentence of 21 years may, however be be prolonged at a later date, five years at a time, if he is deemed to remain a danger to society.
At the end of Friday's 7 hour long session, the prosecution also announced that they would not appeal against the court's ruling.
(NRK)
The Norwegian Government intends to ratify the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (Nuclear Terrorism Convention)...
Norway is one of the first countries to sign the UN Arms Trade Treaty. “Norway has worked systematically to bring about such a treaty," says Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide (photo).
..
Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, met with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in Oslo on Wednesday to discuss NATO's future and Norway's involvement in the Ocean Shield Operation.
..
Severe forms of terror can be punished with up to 30 years in prison when the government implements the coming changes to the current criminal law.
..
The Scandinavian Police Emergency Response Units will in future cooperate closer in order to coordinate the fight against terrorism and in other national emergencies.
..
Norway welcomes the historic Global Arms Trade Treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly by a huge majority. The aim of the treaty is to control the trade in conventional arms...
The Government's evaluation report following the terrorist attack on the BP/Statoil gas plant in Algeria concludes that the Norwegian authorities handled the crisis In Amenas in a good way...
The government coalition and the opposition parties on Tuesday joined in a unanimous vote in Parliament, acccepting the report which criticised all that failed on July 22nd 2011.(Photo: Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg)
..
Norwegian energy provider Statoil has decided to conduct an investigation following the In Amenas terrorist attack in Algeria, in which five Norwegian Statoil employees were killed.
..
The head of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), Marie Benedicte Bjørndal, says that the national security situation in Norway is not satisfactory.
..
People working for the various ministries in the government headquarters in downtown Oslo, worry that bureaucracy is holding up planned security measures after the July 22nd bombing.
..
