Norway prosecutors want Breivik sent to psychiatric unit

Prosecutors in the trial of Norwegian self-confessed mass killer Anders Breivik requested on Thursday that he be given psychiatric care instead of being sent to prison because of doubts over his sanity.

According to prosecutor, Brievik, who killed 77 people in Norway last July, should be locked up in a psychiatric ward instead of prison, arguing his sanity had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

If the Oslo court judges instead conclude that the confessed killer is criminally sane, prosecutor Svein Holden asked that they sentence Breivik to Norway’s maximum penalty of 21 years in prison, which can be extended for as long as he is considered a danger to society.

“Our request is that he be obliged to undergo psychiatric treatment” in a closed unit, Holden said, concluding the prosecution’s three-hour closing arguments on the next to last day of the trial.

“If the court concludes ... that Breivik is responsible, the prosecution deems that the conditions have been fulfilled for prison” with a provision allowing the sentence to be extended, he added.

In such case, Holden said, “there is no doubt that Breivik must receive the harshest penalty: 21 years” with the extension provision.

After the prosecutions closing arguments, Breivik made his nationalist salute.

Breivik, who is intent on being found sane to ensure his Islamophobic ideology is not written off as the ravings of a lunatic, was visibly annoyed by the prosecution’s call for psychiatric treatment.

“Before his handcuffs were put back on and he was led out of the courtroom by police officers, Breivik stood up and touched a clenched right fist to his chest before stretching his arm out in a nationalist salute he had made on the first days of his trial in April but had stopped doing upon request from his lawyers,” AFP news agency reported.