Mass killer Breivik sues Norway in bid to end prison isolation

OSLO – Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in Norway in 2011, appeared in court on Jan 8 in his lawsuit against Norway over his prison conditions.

He wants an end to his isolation in prison, saying it violates his human rights.

Breivik, clad in a dark suit with his head shaved, entered the gymnasium of the Ringerike prison where the five-day trial was being held. He refrained from making provocative gestures, as he has done on previous occasions.

The 44-year-old, who before his attacks e-mailed copies of a manifesto setting out his theories, is also suing the state in a bid to lift restrictions on his correspondence with the outside world.

He killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo before gunning down 69 others, most of them teenagers, at a Labour Party youth camp.

The incident was described as Norway’s worst peacetime atrocity.

His case has been a grim test for a country that is still shaken to its core by the horror of his acts but has also long taken pride in the rehabilitation efforts of its justice system.

Breivik spends his time in a section of the Ringerike high-security prison, 70km north-west of Oslo – the third prison where he has been held.

His dedicated area includes a training room, a kitchen, a TV room and a bathroom, as pictures from a visit in December by news agency NTB showed. He is allowed to keep as pets three budgerigars, which fly freely in the area, NTB reported.

More than a decade in isolation “without meaningful interaction” has had a devastating impact, Breivik’s lawyer wrote in a filing to Oslo District Court.

“He is now suicidal,” Mr Oystein Storrvik said. “He is now dependent on the depression medicine Prozac to get through the days in prison.”

Lawyers representing the Justice Ministry say Breivik must be kept apart from the rest of the prison population because of the continuing security threat he poses.

They said in their court filing that his isolation was “relative”, given that he has contacts with guards, a priest, health professionals and, until recently, an outside volunteer whom Breivik no longer wishes to see.

He also sees two inmates for an hour every other week.

Control over his contacts with the outside world is justified by the risk that he will inspire others to commit violent acts, the lawyers argue.

“Specifically, this applies to contacts with far-right circles, including people who wish to establish contact with Breivik as a result of the terrorist acts on July 22, 2011,” they said in the filing.

Breivik was cited as an inspiration by Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.

Breivik is serving a 21-year sentence – the longest a Norwegian court can impose. It can be extended for as long as he is considered a threat to society.

“What is unique is how long he has been in isolation,” said Associate Professor Knut Mellingsaeter Sorensen of the Norwegian Police University College, the author of a doctorate on Breivik’s conditions at his first prison from 2011 to 2013.

“The challenge, with a person who has shown the intention and the capacity to commit a terrorist attack, and to plan it over a long time, is when do you lighten security measures so (he) can actually have contacts with other inmates?”

Breivik also sued the state in 2016, arguing it was breaching the European Convention on Human Rights, including sections saying no one should be subject to “torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

He initially won the case, but it was

overturned on appeal a year later, before any restrictions were lifted

.

The prison where the Jan 8 hearing was held is on the shore of the Tyrifjorden lake, where the island of Utoya, the site of Breivik’s shooting spree, lies.

The judge’s verdict – there is no jury – will be issued in the coming weeks. REUTERS, AFP