Norway mass killer Breivik not treated ‘inhumanely’ in prison: Court

OSLO – Agence France-Presse

Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has not been treated “inhumanely” by being held in isolation in prison, an Oslo appeals court ruled on March 1, overturning a lower court judgement.

“Breivik is not, and has not, been subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment,” it said.  

The 38-year-old rightwing extremist, who killed 77 people in 2011, will file an appeal against the verdict to Norway’s highest court, the Supreme Court, his lawyer Oystein Storrvik announced immediately after the ruling was published.

In April 2016, an Oslo district court stunned survivors and families of the victims when it found the Norwegian 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 had 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 against that ruling and on March 1 it won its case.

“There are no clear indications that Breivik has been subjected to isolation damage during his prison sentence,” the appeals court found.

“The court is of the opinion that there is a high risk that Breivik will resort to violence in the future,” it added.

The appeals court also upheld the lower court’s ruling that Breivik’s right to privacy, as guaranteed by Article 8 of the Convention, had not been violated. He had argued the strict controls on his correspondence with the outside world breached his rights.

The appeals court noted that Breivik remained a dangerous man who was still trying to spread his extreme rightwing ideology and build up a network of followers.

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.