Norway Terror attack in Oslo - perpetrator sentenced to 30 years in prison

Two years after the deadly terrorist attack outside a gay bar in Oslo, the attacker has been sentenced to the maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

The judges at Oslo District Court unanimously found the accused Norwegian with Iranian roots guilty of serious terror offenses. The 45-year-old was also ordered to pay compensation totaling more than 110 million Norwegian kroner (almost 10 million euros) to the bereaved, injured and hundreds of other victims. The man's lawyer indicated to the radio station NRK that he would advise his client to appeal against the verdict.

The perpetrator shot himself outside a popular gay bar and restaurant in the center of Oslo on the night of June 25, 2022, shortly after pledging allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist militia. Two men were killed and several other people were injured, some seriously. The perpetrator was overrun by passers-by shortly afterwards and subsequently arrested by the police. The secret service had classified the attack, which the 45-year-old had carried out shortly before a planned and then canceled Pride parade in Oslo, as an Islamist terrorist attack.

Longer sentence than Breivik

Norwegian media spoke of a "historic" verdict: this is the first case in which an offender in the Scandinavian country has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for serious terrorist offenses. Even the right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik only received 21 years in prison - the maximum sentence in force at the time - after his attacks in Oslo's government district and on the island of Utøya in 2012, which left a total of 77 people dead.

Since new criminal legislation came into force in 2015, however, serious acts of terrorism can be punished with 30 years in prison. In contrast to a normal prison sentence, custody means that the sentence can be extended every five years.