Most agree with killer Breivik's sentence

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OSLO, Norway, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Only 4 percent of Norwegians said they disagree with a court's finding that confessed killer Anders Breivik is criminally sane, a survey indicated.

Eighty-five percent of respondents said they trust or somewhat trust in the court's ruling Friday that Breivik is criminally sane and will 21 years in prison for killing 77 people in July 2011 -- eight in a bombing of a government building in downtown Oslo and 69 in a shooting spree on nearby Utoya Island, a snap poll conducted for several Norwegian media outlets said.

Breivik, an anti-Muslim extremist, confessed to the killings, but said he was justified because he was raging a campaign against multiculturalism in Norway and Europe.

"These numbers are very positive, and in line with people's view of the court," Mette Yvonne Larsen, one of the victims' lawyers, said of the survey results.

Prosecutors said they would not appeal the ruling, a decision respondents said they supported. Only 12 percent of respondents said they thought the unanimous verdict by the five-judge panel should be appealed, results indicated.

The number of people surveyed and the margin of error was not reported.