Mass murderer loses human rights appeal
NORWEGIAN mass killer Anders Behring Breivik lost a human rights case yesterday when an appeals court overturned a lower court finding that his near-isolation in a three-room cell was inhuman.
Breivik, an anti-Muslim neo-Nazi, detonated a bomb in Oslo in July 2011 that killed eight people.
He then gunned down 69 people, many of them teenagers, at a youth wing meeting of the then-ruling Labour Party.
“The Borgarting Court of Appeal has determined that Anders Behring Breivik is not, and has not been, subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment,” the court said.
Strict conditions for Breivik, who has no contact with other inmates and has not repented for the attacks, were justified as there was a high risk that he would use violence in future and because other prisoners might attack him, it said.
A lower Oslo court had ruled last year that the conditions, including frequent strip searches, violated a ban on inhuman or degrading treatment under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Survivors and relatives of the 77 dead welcomed yesterday’s verdict after denouncing last year’s ruling as a perversion of a convention that starts: “Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law.”
Lisbeth Roeyneland, head of the main support group, said: “We’re very relieved.
“I hope we don’t hear any more about that terrorist for many, many years.”
Breivik is serving Norway’s longest sentence, 21 years, which can be extended if he is still considered a threat.
Breivik’s lawyer, Oeystein Storrvik, expressed surprise at the verdict and said he would appeal to Norway’s Supreme Court.
If that fails, Breivik can appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
But the Norwegian Supreme Court generally only accepts cases that raise wider issues of legal principle.
District court judge Ina Stroemstad said: “The window is more narrow.”
The appeals court noted that Breivik lives in a three-room cell and can watch television, read newspapers and that limited contact with other inmates was under consideration. – Reuters