Mass killer Breivik sues Norway in bid to end prison isolation

The far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who murdered 77 people in a bombing and shooting spree in Norway in 2011, will request on Monday that his prison isolation be lifted on the grounds that it is against his human rights. The 44-year-old is suing the state to try and get limits on his communication with the outside world lifted. Prior to his assaults, he sent out copies of a manifesto outlining his views via email. In Norway’s deadliest peacetime tragedy, Breivik shot and murdered 69 people, the most of them youths, at a Labour Party youth camp after killing eight people with a vehicle bomb in Oslo. His case has been a sobering test for a nation that has long taken pride in the efforts of its legal system to rehabilitate people but is nevertheless deeply troubled by the brutality of his deeds. Breivik is housed in a portion of the high-security Ringerike prison, which is located 40 miles (70 km) northwest of Oslo. This is Breivik’s third jail stay. Pictures from a visit by news agency NTB last month revealed that his designated section contains a kitchen, TV room, training room and bathroom. According to NTB, he is permitted to own three budgerigars as pets, and they are free to fly around. 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,” Oeystein Storrvik added. “He is now dependent on the depression medicine Prozac to get through the days in prison.” Attorneys for the justice ministry assert that due to Breivik’s ongoing security danger, he has to be segregated from the other inmates. In their court petition, they stated that Breivik’s isolation was “relative” because he still maintains communication with guards, a chaplain, medical professionals, and an outside volunteer that he no longer wants to see. Every other week, he also spends an hour with two prisoners. The attorneys contend that controlling Breivik’s interactions with the outside world is warranted due to the possibility that he may incite others to carry out violent crimes. “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 22 July 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 serving a 21-year sentence - the longest a Norwegian court can impose - which can be extended for as long as he is deemed a threat to society. “What is unique is how long he has been in isolation,” said Knut Mellingsaeter Soerensen, an associate professor at the Norwegian Police University College and author of a doctorate on Breivik’s conditions at his first prison from 2011-2013. “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 you 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 that was overturned on appeal a year later before any restrictions were lifted. Monday’s hearing will be held in the gymnasium of the prison, set on the shore of the Tyrifjorden lake, where the island of Utoeya, the site of Breivik’s shooting spree, lies. The judge’s verdict – there is no jury – will be issued in coming weeks.