Breivik won't appeal, sorry for not killing more

Mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik makes salute gesture after arriving at court for sentencing Friday / AP Photo/Frank Augstein

(AP) OSLO, Norway - Accepting a sentence that could keep him imprisoned for life, Anders Behring Breivik apologized Friday for not killing more people in a bomb and gun massacre that left 77 people dead.

Breivik's gruesome and defiant statement could mark the end of a legal process that has haunted Norway for 13 months.

Prosecutors said they had not decided whether to appeal the ruling by Oslo's district court, which declared the right-wing extremist sane enough to be held criminally responsible for attacks "unparalleled in Norwegian history."

Complete coverage: Massacre in Norway

"Since I don't recognize the authority of the court I cannot legitimize the Oslo district court by accepting the verdict," Breivik said. "At the same time I cannot appeal the verdict, because by appealing it I would legitimize the court."

Then, Breivik said he wanted to issue an apology, but it wasn't for the victims, most of the teenagers gunned down in one of the worst peacetime shooting massacres in modern history.

"I wish to apologize to all militant nationalists that I wasn't able to execute more," Breivik said.

Earlier Friday, 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 attacks on July 22, 2011, because Breivik's lawyers said before the verdict that he would not appeal any ruling that did not declare him insane.

But it also means Breivik got what he wanted: a ruling that paints him as a political terrorist instead of a psychotic mass murderer. Since his arrest, Breivik has said the attacks were meant to draw attention to his extreme right-wing ideology and to inspire a multi-decade uprising by "militant nationalists" across Europe.

Prosecutors had argued Breivik was insane as he plotted his attacks to draw attention to a rambling "manifesto" that blamed Muslim immigration for the disintegration of European society.

They said Friday they needed time to review the ruling before deciding on whether to appeal.

[AnonyMommy]

The Norwegians should be granted a separate homeland where they can continue being Norwegians. Muslims will be the majority in a couple of generations and they don't believe in multiculturalism. Non-muslims are being driven out of Muslim countries all over the Middle East as we speak. This will end badly for the ethnic Norwegians, and all Europeans, unless they are given autonomous homelands where they can govern themselves. There is no reason they do not deserve this. Without it, they will eventually be wiped out by "assimilation." There is no excuse for this.

[odr82]

Interstingly, the overwhelming majority of the surviving victims and of the relatives of the victims are happy with the sentence.

[SUZAMBA]

Insane, hardly! He knew and knows what he has done and is doing. Amazing how much freedom he has while appearing in court? They should have a muzzle and a straight jacket on him so he couldn't move. What a waste of human life!

[Bojax39]

"Since I don't recognize the authority of the court I cannot legitimize the Oslo district court by accepting the verdict," Breivik said. "At the same time I cannot appeal the verdict, because by appealing it I would legitimize the court."

Well I reckon your screwed then. :-) What you need is a short dance at the end of a rope, but some folks are too "civilized" to put monsters down when they deserve it.

[andacar]

Norway has handed this guy everything he wanted on a platter shaped like a swastika. He gets to go into prison as a martyr to every gibbering paranoid lunatic in the world. He proved that no matter how horrible the crime some places are too "civilized" to really punish him. He got to have a picture of himself seig heiling prominently on every news channel and website in the world. And he got to be the poster child to inspire every militant revolutionary group, every paramilitary group there is. Expect in jail interviews, legions of women falling all over him with marriage proposals, and manifestos galore. Also expect a lot more massacres like this one following his example.

[rufustherat]

Breivik and Hitler would be soulmates in Hell

[thoughtxchange2]

Wow- the people of Norway need to really look at their system. You can take away the lives of 77 people and all those who would have been alive from those 77 people and you are going to let this man out when he's 50 something? No people, no. This man needs to be put down. He shows zero remorse and it's clear that he would be more than happy to kill more when he's out. 21 years in prison will do nothing because he thinks he's a martyr- I bet he'd plan a new spree for the moment he was released. I pray for all the families of those who were murdered by this horrible monster. And he really is a monster. He has no place in this world if he feels he has the right to take life.

[HaakonLotveit]

Would that bring back those who have died?
If not, then what would be gained?

The thing about being a Christian nation is that you can't really pick and choose. Jesus himself let Judas live, after all.

[themanfrombrum]

This guy is a nut case. Put him in his most feared place - solitary confinement in a mental institution where he endangers others again.

[technocoffee]

ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS that he only got 21 years!! He is every bit as evil as those he hates--the Islamic extremists who aim their fight at innocents because they are too cowardly to fight those in power who they insist are "godless". Vermin of a feather should flock together-waterboard the b##**** daily at Guantanamo if you insist on letting him live!!!

[credibility2]

..this is what comes of too liberal a society and judicial system for too many years...that the Norwegians equated 21 years for the taking of 77 lives as being sufficient and just punishment is beyond comprehension...