Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in Norway in 2011, appeared in a court set up in his prison on Monday to launch a legal bid to end his years in isolation. <\/p>\n
Wearing a black suit, white shirt and brown tie, Breivik said nothing and made no gesture as he entered the hearing, set up in the gym of the high-security jail 70 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of the capital Oslo. <\/p>\n
The 44-year-old sat impassively while his lawyer laid out his argument that the conditions of his detention violated his human rights. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been isolated for about 12 years,\u201d lawyer Oeystein Storrvik, told the hearing. \u201cHe is only in contact with professionals, not with other inmates.\u201d <\/p>\n
In earlier court filings, Storrvik had argued the isolation had left Breivik suicidal and dependent on the anti-depression medication Prozac. <\/p>\n
Breivik, who emailed out copies of a manifesto before his attacks setting out his theories, is suing the state and also asking the court to lift restrictions on his correspondence with the outside world. <\/p>\n
He killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo then gunned down 69 others, most of them teenagers, at a Labour Party youth camp in Norway\u2019s worst peacetime atrocity. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Breivik spends his time in a dedicated section of Ringerike prison, the third prison where he has been held. His separated section includes a training room, a kitchen, a TV room and a bathroom, pictures from a visit last month by news agency NTB showed. <\/p>\n
He is allowed to keep three budgerigars as pets who fly freely in the area, NTB reported. <\/p>\n
Lawyers representing the justice ministry say Breivik must be kept apart the rest of the prison population because of the continuing security threat he poses. <\/p>\n
They said in their court filing his isolation was \u201crelative\u201d given he has contacts with guards, a priest, health professionals and, until recently, an outside volunteer whom Breivik no longer wishes to see. <\/p>\n
He also sees two inmates for an hour every other week, the lawyers said. <\/p>\n
Control over Breivik\u2019s contacts with the outside world is justified by the risk that will inspire others to commit violent acts, the lawyers argue. <\/p>\n
\u201cSpecifically, 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,\u201d they said in the filing. <\/p>\n
Breivik was cited as an inspiration by Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019. <\/p>\n
Breivik is serving a 21-year sentence \u2013 the longest a Norwegian court can impose \u2013 which can be extended for as long as he is deemed a threat to society. <\/p>\n
His prison is on the shore of the Tyrifjorden lake, where the island of Utoeya, the site of Breivik\u2019s shooting spree, lies. <\/p>\n
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 \u201ctorture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.\u201d <\/p>\n
He initially won the case but that was overturned on appeal a year later before any restrictions were lifted. <\/p>\n
In the new case, the judge\u2019s verdict \u2013 there is no jury \u2013 will be issued in coming weeks. <\/p>\n\n
Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in Norway in 2011, appeared in a court set up in his prison on Monday to launch a legal bid to end his years in isolation. Wearing a black suit, white shirt and brown tie, Breivik said nothing and <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13721,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}