[17][18] Breivik was sentenced to the maximum civilian criminal penalty in Norway, which is 21 years' imprisonment through preventive detention, allowing the possibility of one or more extensions for as long as he is deemed a danger to society.

In December 2024, a five-day trial took place in a court of appeals[43][44] as Breivik sued the Government of Norway for violating his human rights by keeping him in prison isolation.

In the report, Wenche Behring is described as "a woman with an extremely difficult upbringing, borderline personality disorder and an all-encompassing if only partially visible depression" who "projects her primitive aggressive and sexual fantasies onto him [Breivik]".

[54] The report recommended he be forcibly removed from his mother and placed into foster care, as she was heavily emotionally and psychologically abusive towards him, but this was not carried out by the Child Welfare Service.

This was based on several observations: Breivik had little emotional engagement and neither showed joy nor cried when he was hurt; he also made no attempts to play with other children, was extremely clean, and became anxious when his toys were not in order.

Considering the profoundly pathological relationship between Anders and his mother it is crucial to make an early effort to ward off a severely skewed development in the boy."

Both the mother and father involved lawyers and eventually, the case was dropped because the Welfare Services thought that they would not be able to provide enough evidence in court to warrant the placement of Breivik in foster care.

[71] Breivik claimed that in 2002, at the age of 23, he started a nine-year plan to finance the 2011 attacks, forming his own computer programming business while working at a customer service company.

[84] In late June or early July 2011, he moved to a rural area north of Åsta in Åmot, Innlandet county, about 140 km (87 mi) north-east of Oslo,[85] the site of his farm.

Breivik, dressed in a homemade police uniform and showing false identification,[93][94] took a ferry to the island and opened fire at the participants, methodically killing 69[95][96] and injuring 32 over more than an hour.

[108] Subsequent to the January 2012 lifting of letters and visitors censorship for Breivik, he received several inquiries from private individuals,[109] and he devoted his time to writing back to like-minded people.

Breivik described plans to carry out further "executions of categories A, B and C traitors" by the thousands, the psychiatrists included, and to organize Norwegians in reservations for the purpose of selective breeding.

[114] The outcome of Breivik's first competency evaluation was fiercely debated in Norway by mental health experts, over the court-appointed psychiatrists' opinion and the country's definition of criminal insanity.

[116][118][119] Counsels representing families and victims filed requests that the court order a second opinion, while the prosecuting authority and Breivik's lawyer initially did not want new experts to be appointed.

[40][126][127] Breivik expressed hope at being declared sane in a letter sent to several Norwegian newspapers shortly before his trial, in which he wrote about the prospect of being sent to a psychiatric ward: "I must admit this is the worst thing that could have happened to me as it is the ultimate humiliation.

[132] In the pre-trial hearing, in February 2012, Breivik read a prepared statement demanding to be released and treated as a hero for his "pre-emptive attack against traitors" accused of planning cultural genocide.

[134][135] This sentence allows the court to continue Breivik's detention indefinitely, five years at a time for as long as the prosecuting authority deems it necessary in order to protect society.

[230] Janne Kristiansen, then Chief of the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), said Breivik "deliberately desisted from violent exhortations on the net [and] has more or less been a moderate, and has neither been part of any extremist network.

[234] Due to the media attention on his Internet activity following the 2011 attacks, document.no compiled a complete list of comments made by Breivik on its website between September 2009 and June 2010.

[238] Six hours before the attacks, Breivik posted a picture of himself as a Knight Templar officer in a uniform festooned with a gold aiguillette and multiple medals he had not been awarded.

[242][246] The document describes two years of preparation of unspecified attacks, supposedly planned for late 2011, involving a rented Volkswagen Crafter van (small enough not to require a truck driving licence) loaded with 1,160 kilograms (2,560 lb) of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosive (ANFO), a Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle, a Glock 34 pistol, personal armour (including a shield), caltrops, and police insignias.

[248][249] Major parts of the compendium are attributed to the pseudonymous Norwegian blogger Fjordman, while Serbian writer, Srđa Trifković, is quoted in a number of places.

[250][251] The text also copies sections of the Unabomber manifesto, without giving credit, while replacing the words "leftists" with "cultural Marxists" and "black people" with "muslims".

[257][258] In his writings Breivik also states that he wants to see European policies on multiculturalism and immigration more similar to those of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan[259] which he said are "not far from cultural conservatism and nationalism at its best".

[27] He also expressed his admiration of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, finding him "a fair and resolute leader worthy of respect", though he was "unsure at this point whether he has the potential to be our best friend or our worst enemy."

[276] Breivik had been active on several anti-Islamic and nationalist blogs, including document.no,[277][278][279] and was a regular reader of Gates of Vienna, the Brussels Journal and Jihad Watch.

[168] Following his arrest, Breivik was characterised by analysts as being a right-wing extremist with anti-Muslim views and a deep-seated hatred of Islam,[308] who considered himself a knight dedicated to stemming the tide of Muslim immigration into Europe.

[317][318] In interviews after the attacks, his lodge said it had only minimal contact with him, and that when made aware of Breivik's membership, Grand Master of the Norwegian Order of Freemasons, Ivar Skaar, issued an edict immediately excluding him from the fraternity based upon the acts he carried out and the values that appear to have motivated them.

[335] In his manifesto and during interrogation, Breivik claimed membership in an "international Christian military order", which he called the new Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici (PCCTS, Knights Templar).

[338] After an intense investigation assisted internationally by several security agencies, the Norwegian police did not find any evidence a PCCTS network existed, or that an alleged 2002 London meeting ever took place.