A Norwegian court has found confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik sane and sentenced him to 21 years in jail for a bomb and gun rampage that left 77 people dead last year.
The five judges at Oslo district court on August 24 unanimously declared the 33-year-old Breivik to be mentally fit for prison.
A 21-year prison term is the maximum penalty in Norway, which does not have life in prison.
The sentence, however, could later be extended if Breivik is deemed to still pose a danger to society.
Legal experts say he is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Breivik told the court he would not appeal the sentence, although he considered the court to be "illegitimate."
Prosecutors also said they would not appeal.
Breivik has confessed to carrying out the July 2011 twin attacks, in which he detonated a bomb outside government headquarters in Oslo, killing eight, before gunning down 69 others, mostly teenagers, at the ruling party's summer youth camp.
The attacks were the worst violence Norway has seen since the end of World War II.
During the trial, Breivik attempted to justify his killing spree, arguing that the ruling center-left Labor Party was deliberately destroying Norway and its heritage by encouraging Muslim immigration to the Nordic state.
"I stand by what I have done and I would still do it again," he said during his court testimony.
On August 24, Breivik's facial expression indicated he was pleased as Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen read out the verdict to a packed courtroom.
Prosecutors had asked for a verdict that would have labeled him insane and confined him indefinitely to psychiatric care.
Breivik himself had argued for a "sane" verdict, saying he wanted the attack to be seen as a political statement against multiculturalism.
He had previously said he would appeal only if declared mad -- a fate he described that would be "worse than death."
If the court had found him insane and he had appealed, the entire trial would have had to be repeated.
WATCH: Norwegian authorities issued a video showing the Ila Prison facilities and the cell in which convicted mass killer Anders Breivik will serve his sentence:
Most relatives of the victims had also spoken against an "insane" verdict, which they said would have diminished Breivik's responsibility and led to a protracted second trial.
Separate teams of court-appointed psychiatrists had come to different conclusions over the state of Breivik's mental health, with one team judging him sane, and the other saying he was insane.
A lawyer for victims of the massacre, Frode Elgesem, welcomed the ruling, saying it offered closure to bereaved families.
"It was such a shock to most Norwegian people when [the killings] happened," Oslo resident Sindra Hauglund said. "I think this is a relief for everyone. I think it's positive for most Norwegians."
Breivik most likely will be sent back to Ila Prison, where he has been held in pretrial detention. He has access to a computer there but no Internet connection. He can communicate with the outside world through postal service mail, which is checked by prison staff.
Based on dpa, AP, and Reuters reporting