A lawsuit launched by far-right fanatic and mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik accusing the state of abusing his human rights has opened in Norway.
Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in 2011, appeared in a court set up in the high-security jail in which he is serving his sentence on Monday. By accusing Norway’s Ministry of Justice of breaching his human rights, he hopes to force the authorities to end his years in isolation.
The 44-year-old killer’s lawyer laid out an argument that the conditions of his detention violated his human rights.
“He has been isolated for about 12 years,” Oeystein Storrvik told the hearing. “He is only in contact with professionals, not with other inmates.”
In earlier court filings, Storrvik had argued the isolation had left Breivik suicidal and dependent on the anti-depression medication Prozac.
Breivik claims the isolation he has faced since he started serving his prison sentence in 2012 amounts to inhumane punishment under the European Convention on Human Rights. He failed in a similar attempt in 2016 -17, when his appeal was denied by the European Court of Justice.
The extremist, who distributed copies of a manifesto before his attack, is suing the state and also asking the court to lift restrictions on his correspondence with the outside world.
He killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo then gunned down 69 others, most of them teenagers, at a Labour Party youth camp. It was Norway’s worst peacetime atrocity.
Breivik spends his time in a dedicated section of Ringerike prison, the third prison in which he has been held. His separated section includes a training room, a kitchen, a TV room and a bathroom, pictures from a visit last month by news agency NTB showed.
He is allowed to keep three budgerigars as pets and let them fly freely in the area, NTB reported.
Depending on the extent of the isolation he might actually have a case. Being deprived of human contact is extremely unhealthy.
Just execute him if he’s going to basically be in solitary for the rest of his life. It’d be more humane.
He’s not isolated, he’s with staff all day long. They talk to him and play Xbox with him.
It doesn’t sound like he’s with staff all day long. Is that really how it is? Cuz yeah, that’s not isolation lol
Yes I’ve met the guy in charge of the staff that are with him. 5 staff that rotate every 6 months.
What do you mean by “with him”? If they’re just watching him through cameras and bringing meals to a door slot that’s still isolation.
In the suite with him.
If true, I don’t think he really has a case. True solitary confinement, like we have in the US, is inhumane torture where you start hallucinating because you don’t see another human being for days at a time (at minimum they kick in after 72 hours iirc)
If he’s interacting with people, that’s not solitary. That’s just normal loneliness. Plenty of people don’t have friends, it’s sadly normal.
I’ve been in a lot of state and federal prisons in the US and I’ve never seen what you describe. The only inmates that are left alone in cells for days at a time are so extraordinarily violent that they can’t be let out without someone getting hurt. Even they have interaction with health and security staff, but it’s through a window.
Disciplinary segregation in every prison I’ve been in usually have two people to a cell whenever possible (which results in much lower suicide risk) and they’re let out several hours a day if they’re safe to do so. They can and do talk to people in adjacent cells all day long.
It’s still fucking miserable, but it’s not what you think.
In Norway, they get much more out of cell time in segregation as long as they’re safe. There are people that are only let out of cell alone, if they’re really violent.
BATON ROUGE, La. — New court filings reveal for the first time that children — almost all Black boys — are being placed in routine solitary confinement for 72 hours when they are detained in the former death row building of the nation’s largest adult maximum security prison — Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola.
According to a new emergency filing in the ongoing Alex A v. Edwards lawsuit, children at Angola describe:
You know what he did right? And what he had to say for himself right? He was stuck in isolation because he is still a danger of radicalizing others. Norway prides itself for humane treatment of prisoners. He maybe deeply depressed but he is still proud he did what he did. If you want to have a chance for the other inmates, you cannot expose them to this lunatic.
The deathpenalty should never be applied, on anyone, ever.
You don’t get to be sanctimonious about the death penalty and still be okay with what is essentially a form of torture through isolation.
Either stop torturing him or kill him. Pick one.
He doesnt play well with others. The last he was allowed out, he killed 77 people after shooting and bombing them. He is basically been put on the naughty step and is wailing about it, and as far as naughty steps comparably go, he is living in luxury.
If not kept in isolation, he will radicalise others because he is entirely unrepentant for what he has done and sees no wrong in it. If we see what he did as wrong then how can we justify killing, no matter how sterile and regulated we make the conditions?
Plus, there is the chance you where wrong. And there is no undoing the deathpenalty. I’m not saying that letting someone out after 50 years and saying “our bad” is good, but at least you get to say I’m sorry we where wrong. The truth matters.
There’s no undoing decades of isolation either.
Ooh my turn!
77 bombed out corpses can’t be undone either.
Who’s turn now?
There must be some way to allow him around other people without allowing him to spread his ideology. For instance, maybe don’t let him be around white people. He doesn’t like isolation? Okay, here you go buddy!
You can’t justify endless isolation either. Between two unjustified and inhumane options, at least death is final. He might be isolated for several more decades.
I’ll take false dichotomies for 400 Alec.
He still has human contact and is closely monitored by psychologist and other professionals. But other inmates are entitled to be protected too. And fortunately the Norwegians understand that.
But then, maybe you know better than a whole range of professionals in fields like psychology, radicalization, resocialization, Reform and prisons.
It may also be a case of protecting him from them.
Yeah, I’m sure Omar and Bilal will be absolutely delighted to hear about his ideology.
Even some neo-nazis have condemned him because the majority of his victims where ethnically Norwegian. He just went after them for being “leftist”.
Complains there are too many Muslims in Norway.
Not actually enough of them in one place to make a massacre worthwhile.
Whats that got to do with the risk of other inmates maybe wanting to kill him for his actions?
Protected from him? He’s a doughboy 😂
A whole range of professionals in fields like psychology, radicalization, resocialization, reform and prisons were consulted for Guantanamo Bay too. Your appeal to authority isn’t as strong as you think it is. 🙄
I’ll take False comparisons for 400 this time Alec.
Yeah, well, maybe he should have thought about that before murdering so many people. I’m quite fine with that kind of torture, in fact, I think he’s living in pretty good conditions.
The European Convention on Human Rights forbids the death penalty.
It also forbids inhumane treatment yet here we are
No I agree, really, they should let him meet the relatives of the 77 people he killed.
All of them.
At once.
Your sadism is noted, but killing people is bad for you. For the relatives sake they probably shouldn’t be allowed to do that lol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law
The point is that as as someone else also pointed out he’s not alone, just there is a difference between the people who he is allowed to meet and those he’d like to meet. That is an integral feature about being jailed as opposed to walking free, and in his case there is a good reason for that.
Of course I wish he too could be one day reintegrated into the society, and the Norway jail system is mile ahead of most any other country in this, especially the US, but from his requests from the article this doesn’t seems the case yet, at all.
I suspect Breivik would have been allowed to meet more people, and increased interactions with other prisoners if he showed any kind of remorse or repentance for his crimes. But since he doesn’t, and uses these lawsuits to advance his cause, it’s no wonder that Norwegian authorities have chosen to limit his interactions to the absolute legal minimum because screw him.
No one is talking about letting him free? We’re talking about him allegedly living in isolation for 12 years. That’s fucked up (if true, based on another poster’s first-hand knowledge he is surrounded by staff all the time so it’s not really solitary confinement)
Sadly for him he committed his crimes in a country without the death penalty. So he gets everything the state can throw at him for the rest of his life. I still think that a regular life prisoner in a US prison would envy his treatment compared to theirs.
deleted by creator
but have you considered that he deserves to suffer?
That point doesn’t matter in these jurisdictions (i.e. Western European ones I am aware of) . Confinement has two reasons and two only: rehabilitation and protection of the public. Revenge doesn’t have a place there. In my opinion rightfully so because the need for revenge is utterly subjective which laws need to avoid.
For example: I would see it as appropriate to nail this bastard on a wall by his balls. BUT I’m aware that this is mainly due to the publicity he got. How would I standardize ball nailing? How much would a shoplifter get? 1/4 of a testicle for half a day? And what would be the equivalent to criminals without scrotum?
But jokes aside: revenge can’t take place via public court. And I’m not informed about civil court mechanics in Norway.
Bonus: human rights apply to every single human. Each of them. And you can’t lose them. If that’s a good idea I’ll leave to each one to decide.
well at least we can agree on this. and nothing else.
how about “every nazi child killer gets cock crucified and everyone else gets normal person jail”?
nothing, shoplifting is cool.
I don’t care that he’s suffering, but the fact that he is suffering still means his lawsuit has standing.
Also, like I said, if they’re going to leave him in solitary his whole life they should just kill him.
I personally beleive the death penalty shouldn’t exist for people like Brevik. The best case scenario is he suffers for the rest of his days. He can’t be rehabilitated and he shouldn’t be.
His acts were so evil he deserves to suffer. Laws should change to ensure people like him can suffer.
The problem is some human has to be responsible for his suffering and that’s bad for us. Even the suffering of animals makes people depressed and suicidal. What would running the torment nexus do to a person?
EDIT Also, suffering is pointless. I think he should be forced to pay back his crimes to society, not just suffer and/or die.
Suffering isn’t pointless. It makes me and many others feel good if horrible people like Brevik suffer, its justice for the people who suffer everyday due to Breviks crimes. Governments through history have been responsible for a ton of suffering - this is one of those rare instances where it’s fully justified.
But I’ll admit, wanting revenge isn’t great and you’re right, we shouldn’t setup systems to enact revenge. That being said, some people are so terrible they need to be locked up and separated from society permanently. Since enacting a death penalty is both expensive and takes a very long time if you want to have the proper checks and balances to ensure innocent people aren’t being executed, that tells me life imprisonment is the only option for people that would or should be otherwise executed.
Maybe he changes his tune in 10 years and becomes a voice against the terrorism he tried to inspire. That could end up with an at least beneficial outcome for society.