Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right fanatic who killed 77 people in bomb and gun attacks in Norway in 2011, appeared this Monday before a court set up in his prison in a legal attempt to end his years of isolation.
Dressed in a black suit, white shirt and brown tie, the inmate, who years ago changed his name to Fjotolf Hansen, did not give any Nazi salute or display any banner when entering the hearing, set up in the gymnasium of the prison. high security 70 km northwest of Oslo.
The 44-year-old man sat impassively as his lawyer made his argument that the conditions of his detention violated his human rights. “He has been isolated for about 12 years,” lawyer Oeystein Storrvik stated at the hearing. “He is only in contact with professionals, not with other inmates.” “The court must put the brakes on and admit that there must be a balance between security and the rights of the individual,” the lawyer said.
In previous court appearances, Storrvik had argued that isolation had left Breivik suicidal and dependent on the antidepressant drug Prozac.
Breivik, who before his attacks emailed copies of a manifesto setting out his theories, has sued the state and also asked the court to lift restrictions on his correspondence with the outside world.
Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo and then shot dead 69 others, most of them teenagers, at a Labor Party youth camp, in Norway’s worst peacetime massacre.
His case has been a severe test for a country that remains shocked by the horror of his actions, but is also proud of the rehabilitation efforts of its judicial system.
Breivik spends his time in a special section of the Ringerike prison, the third in which he has been held. His separate section has two floors and includes a training room, a kitchen, a room with television and video games and a bathroom, images from a visit last month by the NTB news agency showed. He is allowed to keep three pet parakeets that fly freely around the area, NTB reported.
Lawyers representing the Ministry of Justice say Breivik must be kept separate from the rest of the prison population due to the constant threat he poses to security. In their court brief, they state that his isolation is “relative,” given that he maintains 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 two weeks, attorneys said.
Control over Breivik’s contacts with the outside world is justified by the risk that he will inspire others to commit violent acts, 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 of July 22, 2011,” they said in the presentation.
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 — which can be extended while he is sentenced. consider a threat to society.
His prison is on the shores of Lake Tyrifjorden, where the island of Utoya is located, the place where Breivik carried out the shootings.
Breivik also sued the state in 2016, alleging it was breaching the European Convention on Human Rights, including sections that say no one should be subjected to “torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” She initially won the case, but a year later it was overturned on appeal before the restrictions were lifted.
The trial is being held under severe security measures and with extensive restrictions, since by order of the court only the beginning and end of the process can be seen, and not Breivik’s interventions. The judge’s verdict — there is no jury — will be made public in the coming weeks.