Anders Behring Breivik charged with terrorism and murder

MASS killer Anders Behring Breivik has been charged with terrorism and the premeditated murder of 77 people as Norwegian officials prepare for a trial to start next month.

Prosecutors yesterday said they considered the 33-year-old right-wing extremist psychotic and would seek a sentence of involuntary commitment to psychiatric care instead of imprisonment, unless new information about his mental health emerges during the trial.

In either case, Breivik could spend the rest of his life in captivity. Prosecutor Inga Bejer Engh said: “Regardless of the sentence, we have promised that we will do whatever we can to keep him away from society as long as the system allows us.”

The terrorism charges carry a maximum 21 years in prison, but sentences can be prolonged indefinitely for inmates deemed to pose a danger to Norwegian society. Similar rules apply in psychiatric care.

Prosecutors charged Breivik under a paragraph in Norway’s anti-terror law that refers to violent acts intended to disrupt key government functions or spread fears in the population.

Breivik has confessed to the attacks on 22 July last year, but denies criminal guilt, portraying the victims as traitors for embracing immigration policies he claims will result in an Islamic colonisation of Norway.

The indictment listed the names of the eight people killed when a bomb exploded in Oslo and the 69 victims of a shooting spree on Utoya island, where the youth wing of the governing Labour Party was holding its summer camp.

Ms Bejer Engh said 34 of the victims at Utoya were aged between 14 and 17, a further 22 were 18-20, six were 21-25 and seven were older than 25.

The indictment also listed the names of 33 people wounded in the shooting and nine who were seriously injured by the explosion in Oslo’s government district.