Confessed mass killer Andres Behring Breivik has been declared insane after killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage in Norway, the Associated Press is reporting. Prosecutors in an Oslo court ruled that he should be sent to a psychiatric hospital instead of prison for his crimes, as he was psychotic during the July 22, 2011 attacks. Prosecutors decided Breivik isn’t mentally fit to be sentenced to prison for the country’s worst peacetime massacre.

The prosecutor’s decision will be reviewed by a panel of forensic psychiatrists. Their conclusion contrasted with the comments the head of the board, Dr. Tarjei Rygnestad, made after the attacks. He said it would be unlikely Breivik would be declared legally insane because the attacks were carefully planned and executed.

Prosecutor Svein Holden said, however, that Breivik was in a state of psychosis during the attacks. The prosecutors added that he was in his own delusional universe, where all his thoughts were governed by his delusions. They also concluded that over a long period of time, he developed paranoid schizophrenia, which changed his personality.

Norway’s insanity defense requires that a defendant be in a state of psychosis while committing the crime with which he or she is charged. Breivik met the description, as he reportedly lost contact with reality, and was no longer in control of his actions.

Written by: Karen Benardello