Norwegian extremist Breivik sues state for jail isolation
Killer convicted in rampage of 2011 argues confinement violates his human rights
OSLO, NORWAY— He lives in a threeroom suite with windows, about 340 square feet, that includes a treadmill, a fridge, a DVD player, a Sony PlayStation and a desk with a typewriter. He has been taking distance-learning courses at his country’s main university. He has access to television, radio and newspapers. He prepares his own food, and he entered the Christmas gingerbread-house baking contest at his prison.
Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian right-wing extremist who was convicted of killing 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage in 2011, returned to court Tuesday to pursue his claim that his solitary confinement — albeit in cushy circumstances — violates his human rights.
The hearing, at which Breivik gave a Nazi-style salute, has been accompanied by a new round of grief and outrage over the attacks, the deadliest violence in Norway since the Second World War.
Breivik, 37, was convicted of terrorism in 2012 and sentenced to 21years in prison, though he can be held longer if he is deemed a threat to society.
His case has strained Norway’s commitment to tolerance and compassion, which includes a penal system that strongly emphasizes rehabilitation over punishment.
Since 2013, Breivik has been held in isolation at Skien, a high-security prison in southern Norway.
He has been complaining about his confinement since 2012. Now he has sued the government, arguing that under the European Convention on Human Rights, long-term solitary confinement amounts to torture.
“This is a case to determine the conditions for the remainder of his imprisonment,” Breivik’s lawyer, Oystein Storrvik, told the court Tuesday.
The Norwegian Constitution prohibits capital punishment, but Storrvik has argued solitary confinement can be worse than a death sentence.
Marius Emberland, a lawyer for the government, said the conditions of Breivik’s confinement were justified in light of the gravity of his crime, the risk of flight and the continuing threat he poses as a terrorist. He also noted that at least one other inmate had threatened Breivik.