Anders Behring Breivik has been found to be of sound mind and judgment and found guilty by a Norwegian court today. He has been sentenced to at least 21 years in prison.
Breivik has previously stated that a ruling pronouncing him sane would validate his crime as a political act.
He has been sentenced to at least 21 years in prison by a unanimous decision of the five-judge panel. After the original sentence has been served the court will reconsider whether he is still a danger to society at regular intervals.
Twenty-one years is the maximum sentence available to Norwegian courts.
Breivik, who had personally wanted a guilty verdict, portrayed himself during the trial as an anti-Muslim militant, claiming “armed revolution” was the only stop Norway from being systematically Islamized. He looked pleased as Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen declared him sufficiently sane to be held criminally responsible.
The court’s reading of the verdict included details of Breivik’s preparations for Norway’s worst mass killings since World War II.
The judges repeated the particulars of the crime as Breivik had described it to them during the trial, how the fertilizer bomb that Breivik detonated was made, and how police confirmed that the bomb had been manufactured exactly as Breivik had explained.
Breivik had trained extensively for his killing spree. He had taken backpacks filled with stones on hiking trips to practice his shooting skills, as well as played computer games such as World of Warcraft and Modern Warfare II for the same purpose.
He also claimed that he had practiced a Japanese meditation technique designed to “de-emotionalize” himself during the shooting.
Police had taken blood and hair samples from him after the arrest showing that he had also been under the influence of a CNS stimulant.
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