Norway court to decide if Breivik treated inhumanely in jail

OSLO: A Norwegian appeals court will decide Wednesday whether mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is being treated inhumanely in prison by being kept in isolation after a lower court ruled in his favor.

In April 2016, an Oslo district court stunned the survivors and families of the 77 victims of Breivik’s 2011 attacks when it found the state guilty of treating him “inhumanely” and in “degrading” fashion, in breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The lower court judge noted in particular Breivik’s lengthy isolation regime. He has been held apart from other inmates since his arrest on the day of the attacks, and his lawyers have argued that has been detrimental to his mental health. The Norwegian state appealed. In January, during the appeals hearing held inside Skien prison where the now 38-year-old neoNazi is incarcerated, the state’s lawyers argued that the strict regime was justified because he was dangerous.

The state also said it was compensating for the strict regime by providing him with three wellequipped cells, as well as extra interaction with guards and a prison visitor, among others.

In July 2011 Breivik, disguised as a police officer, tracked and gunned down 69 people, most of them teenagers, at a Labour Party youth camp on the island of Utoya, shortly after killing eight people in a bombing outside a government building in Oslo.

He said he killed his victims because they valued multiculturalism.

On Wednesday, an Oslo appeals court is expected to publish its verdict, ruling whether his prison conditions violate Article 3 of the Convention.