A lawsuit launched by far-right fanatic and mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik accusing the state of abusing his human rights has opened in Norway.
Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in 2011, appeared in a court set up in the high-security jail in which he is serving his sentence on Monday. By accusing Norway’s Ministry of Justice of breaching his human rights, he hopes to force the authorities to end his years in isolation.
The 44-year-old killer’s lawyer laid out an argument that the conditions of his detention violated his human rights.
“He has been isolated for about 12 years,” Oeystein Storrvik told the hearing. “He is only in contact with professionals, not with other inmates.”
In earlier court filings, Storrvik had argued the isolation had left Breivik suicidal and dependent on the anti-depression medication Prozac.
Breivik claims the isolation he has faced since he started serving his prison sentence in 2012 amounts to inhumane punishment under the European Convention on Human Rights. He failed in a similar attempt in 2016 -17, when his appeal was denied by the European Court of Justice.
The extremist, who distributed copies of a manifesto before his attack, is suing the state and also asking the court to lift restrictions on his correspondence with the outside world.
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. It was Norway’s worst peacetime atrocity.
Breivik spends his time in a dedicated section of Ringerike prison, the third prison in which 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.
He is allowed to keep three budgerigars as pets and let them fly freely in the area, NTB reported.
Cool. It is his right to do so.
Given the fairly decent conditions he’s reported to be living in, and Norway’s efforts to give him every avenue to rehabilitate, I very much doubt this case will get very far.
As always, the only winners in pointless stuff like this are the solicitors and lawyers.
I feel like the point of the lawsuit is not in good faith necessarily. He is, in a way, showing off. “I committed mass murder in the name of fascism, and my cell is nicer than your flat.” It’s a form of stochastic terror, the way I see it.
Yeah that’s a fair comment. He’s always taken every opportunity to get back into the news and give himself a platform for spouting his bollocks, but it’s a legal avenue he appears to be entitled to explore so go wild I guess.
If anything, it just reminds me of what a giant tosser he is every time he makes the headlines.
To be fair, “my cell is better than your flat” is the result of decades of americans being “it is what it is” sheep rather than slicing some mfers. Whoops, no they do actually slice some mfers… in support of the very people oppressing them. For fuck sake.
I wouldn’t put it past him. He was very outspoken about how he wants Norway to get a harsher justice system. So him still getting the same rights as every other prisoner is him loosing.
He isn’t suing because of the amenities, but because he is being socially isolated. It’s not about the quality of his cell at all.
Why are you being down voted when all these American, single lane thoughts are rising to the top?
Let him scream and wail all he wants. He’s had chances to change, he didn’t, the court will take that into account. He’s just pursing every avenue available to him. If he ever does change in the future, he’ll be royally fucked because he already screamed wolf.
I bet they hate this one, too. As a defense attorney this is basically your nightmare: someone who definitely committed a horrific crime and it’s your job to make a frivolous appeal. And if you’re on the other side this is the last case you want to fuck up.
On the other hand, you get your name mentioned in the media, building upon your reputation as a “star lawyer”. When people suddenly needs a defense attorney, your name will be one of the first they think of. You don’t even have to do a good job because everyone expects your client to be guilty as fuck anyways.
Taking cases like this is definitely good for business.
Good point, plenty of defense attorneys are just in it for the money.