Prosecutors in the trial of mass murderer Anders Breivik argued that he should be committed to a mental institution on Thursday.
Breivik, who admits killing 77 people, many of them teenagers, in two separate attacks on 22 July last year, had previously been judged sane by a commissioned report.
Svein Holden, leading the prosecution, declared that the prosecution "request that he is transferred to compulsory psychiatric care."
Holden argued that, while the prosecution could not themselves prove he was insane, his sanity was in doubt.
The prosecutor added that he believes it was worse to sentence a psychotic person to prison than to place a non-psychotic person in psychiatric care.
According to the Daily Telegraph, "the 33-year-old right-wing extremist 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," as Holden ending his remarks.
A jail sentence would see Breivik behind bars for at least 21 years, which could be extended should be judged a threat to society.
If he were sent to a mental institution, his detainment would likely be longer.
Five judges are set to rule on whether Breivik is indeed sane or whether he cannot be considered of sound mind when killed 77 people last year.
Breivik, who is militantly anti-Muslim, insists that he is sane and says his killings were politically motivated.
The right-wing extremist placed a bomb in a square in Oslo on the morning of 22 July, before heading to the Utoya teenage activist island camp, where he then executed 69 people as they fled.
His trial, which began in mid-April, is expected to deliver a verdict in July.
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