“With suicidal tendencies and anti-depressant treatment”, according to his lawyer, Norwegian neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011, again drags the Norwegian state to justice, denouncing his penal isolation.

Imprisoned in a maximum security prison, Breivik believes that his isolation for almost 11 years violates Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights which prohibits “inhuman and degrading punishment”.

On July 22, 2011, the now 44-year-old Breivik, after earlier detonating a bomb near the government headquarters in Oslo, killing eight, killed another 69 people, most of them young, when he opened fire at a Labor Party youth summer camp on the island of Utoja .

He was sentenced in 2012 to the maximum sentence of 21 years in prison with the possibility of an extension of the sentence.

Prozac

Since then, “he remains in solitary confinement and as time passes, this constitutes a violation of the Convention”, his lawyer stated in October.

In the lawsuit against the Norwegian state, Breivik’s lawyer refers to the “long period of isolation and the absence of real human contact which now translates into (psychological) damages for his client, who now has “suicidal tendencies”.

“Now, he is dependent on the anti-depressant Prozac to get him through his days in prison.”

Breivik, his lawyer argues, has contact only with two other prisoners whom he meets for an hour every two weeks under close supervision and with prison officials.

Invoking another article of the Convention that guarantees the right to correspondence, the Norwegian neo-Nazi is also calling for the filtering of his correspondence with the outside world to be relaxed.

In 2016, Breivik appealed against the Norwegian state and, to everyone’s surprise, was vindicated at first instance. But his appeal was subsequently rejected, while the European Court of Human Rights ruled his appeal inadmissible in 2018.

For security reasons, the new trial takes place from today and for five days in the Ringerike prison gym.

In this prison, on the shores of the lake where the island of Utoja is also located, Breivik has a multi-room apartment on two floors, a kitchen, a TV room with a game console and a picture of the Eiffel Tower, an equipped gym…, according to Norwegian news agency NTB.

The prison authorities have also placed in the residence two parrotss to fulfill his desire to have a companion animal.

The Norwegian state justifies the regime of relative isolation by citing its danger to society, other prisoners and guards, as well as to itself.

The Norwegian prison system attaches great importance to the reintegration of criminals.

Breivik has a choice between a variety of activities (cooking, games, walks, basketball…) and “there is no indication that he is facing physical or mental problems due to the conditions of his detention,” says Norwegian state advocate Andreas Hetland.

“Breivik has so far appeared unresponsive to reintegration work. It is therefore difficult to imagine what significant improvements in detention conditions are possible and justified in the short term.”

Breivik’s public appearances give him the opportunity to carry out provocative actions (Hitler salutes, slogans, ideological slogans…) painful for the families of his victims and the survivors.

For this reason, the president of the court forbade the rebroadcast of his testimony in the trial scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

“There is a real risk that Breivik’s testimony will be diverted from the subject matter of the case to the transmission of an ideological message,” according to Judge Birgitte Kolrud.