He will serve a minimum of ten years in prison for brutal slaughter of innocent people
- Under Norwegian law, this sentence can be extended indefinitely if the inmate is still considered to be dangerous
- Breivik made a fascist salute as he arrived in court today
- He was judged to have been sane at the time of the killings so will be sent to jail rather than a mental hospital
- He has admitted the murders and wanted to be declared sane so his actions wouldn't be dismissed as those of a madman
- The extremist has claimed his victims betrayed their country by embracing a multicultural society
- He planted bomb at Norwegian government HQ, killing eight
- Then went on shooting spree at youth camp on nearby island and killed 69 - half of them teenagers
Norwegian right-wing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik was today sentenced to 21 years in jail for mass murder after he was declared sane.
The militant extremist, who killed 77 people in a shooting and bombing spree last July, will now be sent to prison rather than a mental hospital.
He had admitted to the murders and repeatedly denied the prosecution's claim that he was insane, insisting he was a political prisoner and his deplorable actions were deliberate and considered rather than those of a madman.
Breivik, who will serve a minimum of ten years in prison, murdered eight people by planting a bomb at the government's headquarters in Oslo and shot dead 69 - half of them teenagers - at a youth camp on a nearby island.
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Militant: Anders Breivik makes a fascist salute as he arrives in the Oslo courtroom today to hear the verdict
No remorse: Anders Breivik makes the right-wing salute in front of a packed Oslo courtroom as he is declared sane and sentenced to 21 years in prison
Appalling crimes: The 33-year-old's handcuffs are taken off as he hears his sentence for the bomb and gun attacks that killed 77 people last year
Under Norwegian law, his 'preventative detention' sentence can be extended for as long as he is considered dangerous. He can also challenge the sentence every five years.
The mass murderer today smirked as he walked into the Oslo courtroom wearing a dark suit and sporting a thin beard, and raised his fist in a fascist salute.
The anti-Muslim militant looked pleased as Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen read the ruling to the packed district court, declaring him sane enough to be held criminally responsible for Norway's worst peacetime attacks.
'In a unanimous decision... the court sentences the defendant to 21 years of preventive detention,' said Judge Arntzen, dismissing the prosecutor's call for a verdict if insanity, which would have confined him indefinitely to psychiatric care.
Dangerous criminal: Breivik leaves Ila prison for court in a van early this morning. He will now return to his isolated quarters there
BREIVIK'S LINKS TO BRITAIN
Anders Breivik regularly posted on British nationalist websites, and in the manifesto he released before the attacks he referred to a 'mentor' called 'Richard (the Lionhearted)'.
Parallels were drawn with former English Defence League member Paul Ray, who ran anti-Muslim blog 'Richard The Lionhearted' and led an anti-Islam movement called the Knights Templar.
Breivik wrote of his allegiance to the Knights Templar in his manifesto, describing the group as a secret society created to carry out a crusade against Islam in Europe.
He claimed the group was created at a meeting in London in 2002.
Mr Ray admitted his blog could have helped inform Breivik's manifesto, but vociferously denied having anything to do with the attacks, condemning Brevik's actions as 'pure evil.'
Norwegian police said they had found no trace of an organisation and believed Breivik acted alone.
Norway's domestic intelligence chief denied that there was evidence of links between Breivik and the English far-right.
The medieval Knights Templar was a Christian military order founded in the early 12th century, which became one of the most formidable fighting forces of the Crusades.
Members wore white mantles with a red cross and fought in religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by kings and nobles, with the main goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule and restoring Christian control.
The group was dissolved in 1312.
Parallels were drawn with former English Defence League member Paul Ray, who ran anti-Muslim blog 'Richard The Lionhearted' and led an anti-Islam movement called the Knights Templar.
Breivik wrote of his allegiance to the Knights Templar in his manifesto, describing the group as a secret society created to carry out a crusade against Islam in Europe.
He claimed the group was created at a meeting in London in 2002.
Mr Ray admitted his blog could have helped inform Breivik's manifesto, but vociferously denied having anything to do with the attacks, condemning Brevik's actions as 'pure evil.'
Norwegian police said they had found no trace of an organisation and believed Breivik acted alone.
Norway's domestic intelligence chief denied that there was evidence of links between Breivik and the English far-right.
The medieval Knights Templar was a Christian military order founded in the early 12th century, which became one of the most formidable fighting forces of the Crusades.
Members wore white mantles with a red cross and fought in religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by kings and nobles, with the main goal of recapturing Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Muslim rule and restoring Christian control.
The group was dissolved in 1312.
Breivik will now be taken back to the prison, where he has been held in isolation for most of the time since his arrest.
The father of a girl killed in the massacre today welcomed the ruling. 'Now we won't hear about him for quite a while. Now we can have peace and quiet,' said Per Balch Soerensen.
'He doesn't mean anything to me, he is just air.'
The relatively spacious quarters include a separate exercise room, a computer and a television.
Breivik was able to park a van with a fertiliser bomb just outside the government offices before he drove another car to the Labor Party's youth camp on Utoya, unhindered.
He stalked his victims across the island while dressed as a policeman, calling to them and tricking them into thinking he was the help sent from shore before shooting them from close range and finishing them off with a shot to the head.
The killer surrendered to officers after about an hour of indiscriminate slaughter.
The police response was slowed down by a series of blunders, including flaws in communication systems and the breakdown of an overloaded boat carrying a police anti-terror unit to the island.
It took them more than an hour to reach Utoya, with Norway's only police helicopter left unused, its crew on vacation.
A commission investigating the attack earlier this month concluded that all or part of it could have been prevented and that mistakes by intelligence, police and government likely cost lives.
Ministers have faced severe criticism for their actions before and during the attacks.
The country's justice minister and police chief both resigned in the aftermath and some critics have called on the prime minister to step down.
Though Breivik has admitted the attacks, he rejected criminal guilt during his trial, saying his victims had betrayed their country by embracing a multicultural society.
Amused: The 33-year-old smirked as he entered the court, dressed smartly in a suit and tie
Calm: The mass murderer helps himself to some water as his lawyer Geir Lippestad looks agonised by his side
Bizarre theories: Breivik has always admitted to the murders but rejected being called a child killer, arguing that his victims were brainwashed 'cultural Marxists'
PRISON LIFE FOR THE KILLER
Anders Breivik starts each day in Ila Prison with a wholesome early breakfast of porridge or homemade brown bread served with cheese or ham, and a jug of black coffee.
The isolated prisoner then spends time exercising at his adjoining gym, where he has a treadmill. He enjoys a ‘suite’ of three adjoining 86 sq ft cells - bedroom, gym and a study containing a computer without internet access.
He then reads the newspapers and plays a non-violent computer game, or watches a DVD or TV show on one of 15 channels.
The killer is able to ring a room-service bell to have cigarettes delivered and often enjoys some fresh air in an enclosed yard after lunch.
He is also allowed to write letters, or practice mediation, before a dinner of typical Norwegian fare such as meatballs and potatoes, or cod.
Those who have observed him say he sleeps soundly at night.
A court psychiatrist who assessed Breivik said the killer had compared prison to being in ‘kindergarten’.
A prisoner as dangerous as him would normally have been sent to Ringerike, Norway’s highest security prison, but this was ruled out because of its location overlooking Utoya.
The leniency with which he is being treated has outraged some in Norway but is entirely in keeping with the country’s penal system, one of the most ‘progressive’ in Europe. The focus is on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
The isolated prisoner then spends time exercising at his adjoining gym, where he has a treadmill. He enjoys a ‘suite’ of three adjoining 86 sq ft cells - bedroom, gym and a study containing a computer without internet access.
He then reads the newspapers and plays a non-violent computer game, or watches a DVD or TV show on one of 15 channels.
The killer is able to ring a room-service bell to have cigarettes delivered and often enjoys some fresh air in an enclosed yard after lunch.
He is also allowed to write letters, or practice mediation, before a dinner of typical Norwegian fare such as meatballs and potatoes, or cod.
Those who have observed him say he sleeps soundly at night.
A court psychiatrist who assessed Breivik said the killer had compared prison to being in ‘kindergarten’.
A prisoner as dangerous as him would normally have been sent to Ringerike, Norway’s highest security prison, but this was ruled out because of its location overlooking Utoya.
The leniency with which he is being treated has outraged some in Norway but is entirely in keeping with the country’s penal system, one of the most ‘progressive’ in Europe. The focus is on rehabilitation rather than punishment.
'History shows that you have to commit a small barbarism to prevent a bigger barbarism.'
'The attacks on July 22 were preventive attacks to defend the indigenous Norwegian people,' he said. 'I therefore demand to be acquitted.'
In his rambling closing statement, he also lashed out at everything he finds wrong with the world, from non-ethnic Norwegians representing the country in the Eurovision Song Contest to the sexually liberated lifestyle of the characters in the American TV show Sex And The City.
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.
The son of a Norwegian diplomat and a nurse who divorced when he was a child, Breivik had been a law-abiding citizen until the attacks, except for a brief spell of spray-painting graffiti during his youth.
Breivik, who had described an insane verdict as 'a fate worse than death', accused Norwegian authorities of trying to cast him as sick to deflate his political views.
He justified his killing spree arguing that the centre-left Labour party is deliberately destroying the nation by encouraging Muslim immigration.
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'.
'I stand by what I have done and I would still do it again,' he said during his court testimony.
His lawyers say Breivik is already at work writing sequels to the 1,500-page manifesto he released on the internet before the attacks.
Carnage: The aftermath of the Oslo car bomb planted by mass killer Breivik
Blast: The bomb at the high-rise government building left scores injured last year
CCTV: Surveillance footage shows Breivik, dressed in police uniform and carrying a pistol, as he walks away from a car after placing a bomb in Oslo last year
Force: This photo shows members of the Norwegian Special Forces land by boat on the shore of the island of Utoya during Breivik's shooting spree
Chilling: Breivik walks with a gun among the bodies strewn around Utoya island during his rampage last July
Terror: Teenagers on the Norwegian holiday island of Utoya had to 'swim for their lives' and hide in trees when Breivik fired indiscriminately at them
He claimed to be part of a secret organisation modelled on the medieval Christian military order the Knights Templar, which aimed to purge Europe of Muslim influence.
Police found no trace of the organisation, however, and said he acted alone.
The document laid out a blueprint for a multi-phase 'revolution', targeting left-leaning political elites he accused of destroying their own societies by admitting large numbers of immigrants, especially from Muslim countries.
Manifesto of terror: Breivik poses in a wetsuit holding an automatic weapon in a YouTube video posted six hours before the deadly attacks
Military image: Breivik wore uniforms in photos included in the 12-minute YouTube video - one of which he requested to wear to a court hearing
The document spelt out Breivik's extreme nationalist philosophy as well as his methods. It described how he bought guns, tons of fertiliser and other bomb components, hid collections of weapons and evaded police suspicion in the run-up to the attacks.
Before the killings, Breivik spent much of his time absorbed in online gaming, mostly playing the World of Warcraft series.
He was a high school dropout and, the court heard, made money by forging diplomas and certificates under the company name Diplom Service, which folded in 2006.
Passive: Breivik, then 32, pictured moments after his arrest, still in the police clothes he wore for the attacks
It included pictures of him wearing a wetsuit and pointing an automatic weapon.
In a text with the video he detailed his plans for the attacks, writing that he would 'dress up as a police officer', adding that it would 'be awesome as people will be astonished'.
In the wake of the attacks, anxious to prove he was not insane, Breivik called right-wing extremists and radical Islamists to give their public support for his view of clashing civilizations.
It was widely reported that he had made postings on British nationalist websites.
But Norwegian authorities said there was no evidence of links to the English far-right.
Tributes: The Norwegian killed 77 people, first detonating a car bomb in Oslo, then going on a shooting rampage at a camp on Utoya Island (background)
Polls showed that around 70 per cent of Norway's public thought such a complex attack could not have been carried out by a madman and Breivik had to bear responsibility.
'The most important thing for me is not weather he is sent to a mental hospital or jail, it's just that he remains off the streets (and) he is never let out,' said Vegard Groslie Wennesland, a survivor of the attack, before the verdict.
Breivik derided a jail term as 'pathetic', and said acquittal or execution were the only reasonable outcomes, although the country does not have the death penalty.
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