/ 22 December 2011

Report declaring Norway killer insane given the nod

Report Declaring Norway Killer Insane Given The Nod

A Norwegian psychiatric report concluding that an anti-Islam militant who killed 77 people in July was insane and unfit to serve prison time was approved on Thursday by a medical review commission, strengthening the likelihood he will avoid jail.

The seven-member commission said in a letter to the Oslo District Court that it had “no significant comments” to the November 29 report by two court-appointed psychiatrists who diagnosed Anders Behring Breivik, the self-admitted mass killer, as psychotic.

State broadcaster NRK reported on Wednesday that three of the review panel’s members had “big objections” to the initial report declaring Breivik criminally insane but Thursday’s court letter gave no such indication. NRK did not name its sources.

A court official said Breivik still faces a trial date in April, when the trial judge will be free to ask for a new examination if he or she has any doubts about the one approved on Friday.

Breivik has admitted detonating a bomb in central Oslo that killed eight people before massacring 69 others with gunfire at a Labour Party youth camp. Both attacks occurred on July 22. — Reuters