Norwegian mass killer Breivik sues the state for "extreme" isolation

Norwegian mass killer Breivik sues the state for "extreme" isolation - lawyer

OSLO, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is suing the state for allegedly violating his human rights due to his being held in "extreme" isolation, and has filed another application for parole, his lawyer said on Friday.

The right-wing militant killed 77 people, most of them teenagers, in shootings and a bombing in Norway's worst peacetime atrocity in July 2011.

Breivik, now 44, is serving Norway's longest sentence, 21 years, which can be extended if he is still considered a threat.

"He's suing the state because he has been in an extreme isolation for 11 years, and has no contacts with other people except his guards," Breivik's lawyer Oeystein Storrvik told Reuters.

"He (Breivik) was moved to a new prison last year, and we hoped that there would be better conditions and that he could meet other people," Storrvik added.

Norwegian daily Aftenposten was the first to report about the case earlier on Friday.

In 2017, Breivik lost a human rights case when an appeals court overturned a lower court verdict that his near-isolation in a three-room cell was inhuman.

Last year, a Norwegian court also rejected his parole application, saying he still posed a risk of violence.

Storrvik said he expected the Oslo district court to hear the lawsuit next spring.

The Utøya Massacre

On 22 July 2011, a mass shooting took place at the AUF's summer youth camp, where 650 young people were staying.

Anders Behring Breivik arrived alone on Utøya dressed as a police officer and told those on the island that he was there for security reasons following the explosions in Oslo which he caused a few hours before.

He then began shooting at individuals, continuing until the police arrived one hour after the first alarm call. The suspect immediately surrendered.

Combined, the attacks in Oslo and Utøya left 77 dead, with 69 killed on the island, 33 of whom were under the age of 18.

Source: Reuters, Staff, August 18, 2023

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