Self-confessed mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is unlikely to be sent to jail after psychiatrists declared him to have been insane and suffering from paranoid schizophrenia when he killed 77 people in Norway this summer.

Prosecutors said Breivik, a self-declared anti-immigration militant, believed he had staged what he called "the executions" out of his love for his people. "The conclusion ... is that he is insane," prosecutor Svein Holden told a news conference on Breivik's psychiatric evaluation. "He lives in his own delusional universe and his thoughts and acts are governed by this universe."

If the court accepts the psychiatrists' conclusions, Breivik would be held in a psychiatric institution rather than in a prison. Norwegian courts can challenge psychiatric evaluations or order new tests but rarely reject them. Breivik could be held as long as he poses a threat to society, but may be released if found to be healthy.

During his 13 conversations with two mental health experts, which lasted about 36 hours, Breivik called himself the "most perfect knight" to live after the second world war.

Breivik also claimed that his organisation, which he calls the Knights Templar after the medieval religious order, will take over power in Europe and put himself forward as the future regent of Norway and the continent.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/29/anders-behring-breivik-avoid-jail-insane