Anders Behring Breivik has won part of a human rights case against the Norwegian state.
The court upheld the mass murderer’s claim that some of his treatment amounted to “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.
After the judgement, Anders Breivik’s lawyer, Oystein Storrvik, called for his solitary confinement to be repealed.
Anders Breivik, a right-wing extremist, killed dozens of young center-left political activists in an attack on the island of Utoya in July 2011.
Earlier that day, he set off a car bomb in Oslo, killing eight people.
In her ruling, judge Helen Andenaes Sekulic said the right not to be subjected to inhuman treatment represented “a fundamental value in a democratic society” and also applied to “terrorists and killers”.
Photo Getty Images
Anders Breivik had challenged the government over his solitary confinement, which saw him kept alone in his cell for 22 to 23 hours a day, denied contact with other inmates and only communicating with prison staff through a thick glass barrier.
His prison regime deviated so markedly from that enforced upon any other prisoner in Norway, regardless of the severity of their crimes, that it had to be considered an extra punishment, Judge Sekulic said.
However, article three of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) required that prisoners be detained in conditions that did not exceed the unavoidable level of suffering inherent in detention, given the practical requirements of the particular case, the judge said.
The prison authorities had also not done enough to counteract the damage Anders Breivik had suffered from being in isolation, she said.
The judge also noted that Anders Breivik had been woken up every half hour at night over a long period of time and on some occasions subjected to strip searches with female officers present, which he found particularly difficult.
“Taken together with the other stringent restrictions which he was subject, this was regarded as degrading treatment in the Convention sense,” Judge Sekulic said, according to NRK .
State lawyer Marius Emberland said the government was surprised by the verdict but had not decided whether to appeal.
If neither side appeals against the judgement within four weeks, the prison is obliged to make Anders Breivik’s prison regime more lenient in line with the judge’s remarks, NRK reported.
The prison must work to bring in other prisoners and “facilitate a community”, the judge said.
However, Judge Sekulic ruled that strict controls on Anders Breivik’s correspondence were justified and his right to a private and family life under article eight of the ECHR had not been violated.
The court also ordered the Norwegian state to pay Anders Breivik’s legal costs of 330,000 kroner ($40,000).
Bjorn Ihler, a survivor of Anders Breivik’s massacre of young activists on Utoya, tweeted that the judgement in Breivik’s favor showed Norway had a “working court system, respecting human rights even under extreme conditions”.
Anders Behring Breivik has given a Nazi salute upon his return to court to accuse the government of violating his human rights by holding him in isolation.
The Norwegian mass murderer has compared his conditions in prison to “torture”.
Anders Breivik, 37, killed 77 people in 2011 when he bombed central Oslo before going on a shooting spree at a Labour Youth camp on the island of Utoya.
The right-wing extremist was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2012.
Entering the court in a grey suit shortly before 09:00 Anders Breivik shook hands with his lawyers. He made the salute after police removed his handcuffs.
Anders Breivik accuses the Norwegian government of breaching two clauses of the European Convention on Human Rights.
One of the clauses guarantees the right to respect for “private and family life” and “correspondence” and the other prohibits “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.
Photo Reuters
His lawyer, Oystein Storrvik, told AFP news agency that Anders Breivik had been “very stressed due to his isolation” in Skien prison, about 60 miles south-west of the capital Oslo.
“One of his main things to do (in prison) was to study and he has stopped that now, and I feel that is a sign that isolation has been negative to his psychological health,” he said.
Authorities say Anders Breivik’s correspondence is censored to stop him setting up an “extremist network”. His visits are almost all with professionals across a glass partition.
The attorney general’s office has insisted that Anders Breivik’s prison conditions are “well within the limits of what is permitted” under the convention.
The court hearing, which is being held in the gymnasium of Skien prison, is expected to run until Friday.
Anders Breivik is expected to testify on March 16.
If the court decides that Anders Breivik’s prison conditions are so strict that they cause him harm and violate his human rights, it could order an easing of restrictions.
In September 2015, Anders Breivik threatened to starve himself to death in protest at his treatment in prison.
His cell at Skien prison has a TV and computer but he has no access to the internet.
In a letter to media outlets in Norway and Sweden, Anders Breivik said he was kept in almost total isolation, with time outside his cell limited to one hour a day.
The mass murderer said the harsh prison conditions had forced him to drop out of a political science course at the University of Oslo.
Anders Breivik was first held at Ila Detention and Security Prison near Oslo before being moved to Skien in 2013.
At Ila, he also complained of being held in “inhumane” conditions.
In a letter to prison authorities, Anders Breivik said his cell was poorly decorated and had no view.
Anders Breivik also complained that his coffee was served cold, he did not have enough butter for his bread, and he was not allowed moisturizer.
Anders Behring Breivik has threatened to starve himself to death in protest at his treatment in a Norway prison, according to media reports.
The mass killer claims to have been kept in isolation since September 2, with time outside his cell limited to an hour a day.
Anders Breivik, now 36, killed 77 people in 2011 when he bombed central Oslo before going on a shooting spree at a youth camp on Utoya island.
He was sentenced to 21 years in 2012.
Anders Breivik’s claims about deteriorating prison conditions were made in a letter to media outlets in Norway and Sweden.
Photo Getty Images
In his letter, Anders Breivik says harsh prison conditions have forced him to drop out of a political science course at the University of Oslo.
“Studying and corresponding is not humanly possible under such circumstances, and this applies to anyone who is isolated under such conditions,” he wrote according to English news site The Local.
Anders Breivik said that if conditions remained unchanged he would continue the hunger strike until he died, Norwegian media reported.
Norwegian Justice Minister Anders Anundsen declined to comment on Anders Breivik’s claims, according to the Dagbladet newspaper.
The University of Oslo admitted Anders Breivik as a full student in July 2015, explaining that inmates had a right to higher education if they won entry to courses.
Anders Breivik has previously complained of “inhumane” prison conditions, including that his coffee was being served cold.
Anders Behring Breivik has won a place to study political science at Oslo’s university.
The 36-year-old Norwegian admitted killing 77 people when he bombed central Oslo and then went on a shooting spree at a youth camp on a nearby island in 2011.
Anders Behring Breivik has been studying certain course modules since first applying to the University of Oslo in 2013, but he will now be taught as a full student.
The mass killer will have no contact with staff or students as he studies from his cell.
In 2012, Anders Behring Breivik was sentenced to the maximum 21 years in prison for carrying out Norway’s worst massacre since World War Two.
This jail term can be extended if he is deemed to remain a danger to society.
The university’s rector, Ole Petter Ottersen, said that Norwegian inmates “have a right to pursue higher education in Norway if they meet the admission requirements and are successful in competition with other applicants”.
Writing on the university’s website, Ole Petter Ottersen admitted that the university had faced “moral dilemmas” about Anders Behring Breivik’s admission.
The rector added that the university had students whose family members had been killed by Anders Behring Breivik. However, he said that the university would abide by its rules “for our own sake, not for his”.
As he studies from his prison, Anders Behring Breivik will be subject to strict regulations. He will be allowed no access to internet resources or receive any personal guidance from tutors. All communication with the university will take place via “a contact person in prison”.
Anders Behring Breivik first applied to study in 2013 but did not meet entry requirements as he had never completed secondary school. Instead, he was allowed to study certain political science modules.
His deadly rampage at a Labor Party youth camp on Utoya Island was found by an Oslo court to have been a premeditated act of terrorism.
Anders Behring Breivik harbored extremist right-wing views and claimed he had reacted against what he saw as a Marxist-Islamic takeover of Europe.
Norwegian musician Kristian “Varg” Vikernes, who had links to mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, has been arrested in France on “suspicion he was preparing a major terrorist act”.
The French interior ministry said Varg Vikernes constituted “a potential threat to society”.
Varg Vikernes was arrested in central France after his wife bought four rifles.
Varg Vikernes was arrested in central France after his wife bought four rifles
The black-metal musician, described by French officials as a neo-Nazi, had in the past received a copy of a manifesto from Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011.
Anders Behring Breivik planted a bomb in central Oslo and went on a shooting spree on the nearby island of Utoeya in July 2011. He was imprisoned for the maximum 21-year term last year.
An official at the Paris Prosecutor Office said Anders Behring Breivik sent a copy of a manifesto setting out his ideology to Varg Vikernes, who is also a convicted murderer.
The official said: “There were several suspicions that made the services fear he could possibly carry out a violent act.”
Varg Vikernes was arrested along with his wife, a French national, in Correze, a region in central France.
Police sources said officers were searching their home for weapons and explosives.
Officials say Varg Vikernes’ wife had a legal firearms permit when she bought the four rifles.
Varg Vikernes was convicted in 1994 of stabbing a man to death in Oslo and burning down several churches.
He was released in 2009 and moved to France with his wife and three children.
On his website, Varg Vikernes discusses Anders Behring Breivik’s manifesto, but also criticizes him for killing innocent Norwegians.
Anders Behring Breivik’s 1,500-page manifesto outlined his planned crusade against Muslims, who he said “were taking over Europe and could only be defeated through a violent civil war”.
Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian convicted of the massacre of 77 people last year, has said he is being held in “inhumane” conditions.
Anders Behring Breivik complained in a letter to the prison service that his coffee is served cold, he does not have enough butter for his bread, and he is not allowed moisturizer.
He is serving a minimum 21-year sentence for the bombings and shootings in Oslo and Utoeya island last July.
The Norwegian authorities have not commented on the letter.
However, his lawyer has confirmed that the details of the 27-page document leaked to Norway’s VG newspaper are authentic.
Anders Behring Breivik is being held in almost complete isolation – 23 hours a day, he says – at Ila prison outside Oslo.
His cell includes three sections, one to sleep, one for study and a third for exercise – each measuring 8 sq m (86 sq ft).
Anders Behring Breivik complained in a letter to the prison service that his coffee is served cold, he does not have enough butter for his bread, and he is not allowed moisturizer
In the letter, he complains that the cell is poorly decorated and has no view.
“I highly doubt that there are worse detention facilities in Norway,” he writes.
Among his other complaints are:
• the handcuffs he wears when being moved around the prison “are too sharp and “cut in his wrist”
• the cell is too cold, forcing him to wear three layers of clothes
• he has to rush his morning shave and brushing of teeth
• light and television switches are outside the cell, so he has to ask for help to change channel or sleep.
Ila is an all-male institution which “houses some of the country’s most dangerous men”, its website says.
However, it differs markedly from other maximum security jails in western Europe. The staff is a half-and-half mix of men and women and none are armed.
Anders Behring Breivik massacred 77 people, most of them teenagers at a youth camp run by Norway’s governing Labour Party.
His 21-year sentence can be indefinitely extended for as long as he is considered a danger to society.
Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik says he will not appeal against a Norway court ruling finding him sane and sentencing him to 21 years in jail.
Anders Behring Breivik said appealing would legitimize the court, which he rejects.
He admits killing 77 people in bomb and shooting attacks last year. He says this was necessary to prevent “Islamisation” and insists he is sane.
Prosecutors – who had sought an insanity ruling – also told the Oslo court they would not appeal.
Anders Breivik said he did not recognize the court, which he contended had “sided with the multicultural majority in parliament”, but added: “I cannot appeal against the judgement because by appealing I would legitimize the court.”
He went on to say: “I wish to apologize to all militant nationalists in Norway and Europe for not managing to kill more people” – but was cut off by the judge, who said this was not the time to address people outside the court.
Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik says he will not appeal against a Norway court ruling finding him sane and sentencing him to 21 years in jail
Delivering her verdict earlier on Friday, Judge Wenche Elisabeth Arntzen said the court considered Anders Behring Breivik to be suffering from “narcissistic personality characteristics” but not psychosis.
Anders Behring Breivik was convicted of terrorism and premeditated murder, and given the maximum sentence of 21 years’ imprisonment.
However, the judge said the jail term could be prolonged at a later date if he is deemed to remain a danger to society.
She set the minimum length of imprisonment to 10 years.
Court-appointed psychiatrists had disagreed on Anders Breivik’s sanity. A first team which examined him declared him to be a paranoid schizophrenic, but the second found he was sane.
He will serve his sentence at Oslo’s high-security Ila Prison, where he has been held in isolation for most of the time since his arrest.
“His goal was to be declared sane, so on that point he is satisfied,” Anders Breivik’s defense lawyer, Geir Lippestad, said.
Before the verdict, he had said psychiatric care would be “worse than death”.
On 22 July 2011, Anders Behring Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo, killing eight people.
Later in the day, he boarded a boat to the Utoeya island, where the Labour Party was holding a youth camp.
Wearing a fake police uniform, he fired weapons and meticulously hunted his victims. A further 69 people were killed and dozens wounded.
Many of the survivors and relatives of his victims welcomed the verdict.
“I am very relieved and happy about the outcome,” Tore Sinding Bekkedal, who survived the Utoeya shooting, told the Associated Press news agency. “I believe he is mad, but it is political madness and not psychiatric madness.”
Unni Espeland Marcussen, who lost her 16-year-old daughter Andrine at Utoeya, said: “I feel happiness because he is a man who all the time knew what he has done.”
Anders Breivik’s attacks ignited a debate about the nature of tolerance and democracy in Norway.
Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is sane and he is sentenced to 21 years in prison, a Norwegian court has ruled today.
Anders Behring Breivik admitted killing 77 people and wounding more than 240 others when he bombed central Oslo and then opened fire at an island youth camp last year.
Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is sane and he is sentenced to 21 years in prison, a Norwegian court has ruled today
The killer insisted he was sane and refused to plead guilty, seeking to justify his attacks by saying they were necessary to stop the “Islamisation” of Norway.
Prosecutors had called for him to be considered insane.
The five judges were unanimous in ruling that Anders Behring Breivik was sane.
They gave him the maximum sentence of 21 years, but that can be prolonged at a later if he is deemed to remain a danger to society.
Court-appointed psychiatrists disagreed on Anders Breivik’s sanity. A first team which examined him declared him to be a paranoid schizophrenic, but the second found he was sane.
Before the verdict, Anders Breivik said psychiatric care would be “worse than death”.
Anders Behring Breivik carried out the meticulously planned attack in July 2011, wearing a fake police uniform, and methodically hunted down his victims.
He accused the Labour Party of promoting multiculturalism and endangering Norway’s identity.
Some victims at the Labour Party youth camp on Utoeya island were shot in the head at point-blank range.
Ahead of the verdict, security barriers were put up outside the district court in Oslo.
A glass partition separates Anders Behring Breivik from relatives of victims in a courtroom custom-built for the trial.
Remote-controlled cameras are filming the proceedings, sending the images to courtrooms around Norway where other relatives can watch the hearing live.
Anders Breivik’s trial, which began in March, heard graphic testimony from some of the survivors of his attacks.
Mohamad Hadi Hamed, 21, who is now in a wheelchair, told the court how his left arm and his left leg were amputated after he was shot by Anders Breivik.
Another survivor, Einar Bardal, 17, described how he was trying to escape when he heard a loud bang, followed by a loud beeping noise in his head.
Norway is today commemorating one year since 77 people were killed and 242 hurt in gun and bomb attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utoeya.
Church services, a concert and other events are being held around Norway.
PM Jens Stoltenberg will lay wreaths and is expected to be joined by hundreds of people on Utoeya, including the families of those who were killed.
Anders Behring Breivik, who has admitted carrying out the two attacks, remains on trial.
Most of the dead were young activists with the Labour Party who had been staying on Utoeya as part of a summer camp.
Thousands of people are expected to gather in Oslo for a day of events, including a memorial service at the city’s cathedral.
Norway is commemorating one year since 77 people were killed and 242 hurt in gun and bomb attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utoeya
Jens Stoltenberg will lay a wreath at the site of the Oslo bombing at 09:30 and then travel to Utoeya to give a speech to Labour Party youth, before laying a wreath there at 18:45 – the time Anders Breivik was arrested a year ago.
In the evening there will be a national memorial concert with mainly Norwegian musicians.
Many of the buildings that were damaged in the bomb attack have not yet been fully repaired.
The prime minister’s office and the ministry of health buildings are still covered in plastic.
The attacks, regarded as the worst act of violence in Norway since World War II, sparked a national debate about the nature of tolerance and democracy in the country.
Anders Breivik, who has been on trial for three months, has tried to justify the attacks by claiming he was trying to stop Muslims from taking over Norway.
But the government, and much of the population, have actively promoted tolerance and openness to counter Anders Breivik’s views.
“I think that people thought it a bit naive to cling to these values of openness in a situation like that,” said Vegard Groeslie Wennesland, a Labour Party activist who survived the attack.
“But I think it’s more naive to think that brutal police, or more restrictive policies will bring you a safer society.”
Judges are to announce next month whether Anders Breivik is sane or insane, and therefore whether he will be given a long prison sentence or be sent to a secure psychiatric ward.
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