Norway on Sunday marked the first anniversary of a bomb and gun massacre that left 77 people dead, with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg saying the nation responded to the tragedy by reaffirming its democratic and tolerant values.

During a wreath-laying ceremony at the bomb site, Mr. Stoltenberg said the bomb and the bullets were meant to change Norway, but that the perpetrator failed, as the Norweigian people responded by embracing their values.

On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb near an Oslo government building, killing eight people. Then he shot dead 69 people, mostly teenagers, at a youth camp on Utoeya Island.

Breivik, who was 32 at the time of the attacks, readily admitted responsibility for the massacre, saying he was justified because the victims had facilitated the “Islamization of Norway.”

Breivik's trial ended last month. The court is expected to issue a verdict in August.

While there is no doubt he carried out the attacks, the court must decide if Breivik should be considered criminally sane and sentenced to prison, as requested by his defense, or instead follow the prosecution's request to send him to a psychiatric ward.