STRASBOURG: The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday dismissed a complaint by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik over his prison conditions, ending a long-running saga that kept him in the public eye, tormenting his victims.
Breivik is serving a 21-year sentence for the July 2011 massacre of 77 people, most of them teenagers gunned down while attending a Labour Party youth camp on the small island of Utoeya.
The far-right, anti-Islam extremist took his case to the ECHR after Norway’s Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal last year against a ruling that his near-isolation in a three-room cell respected his human rights.
His lawyer argued that the prison conditions breached articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights: the former prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment, the latter guarantees a right to privacy and family life.
“His state (of mind) is deteriorating,” his lawyer Oystein Storrvik told AFP. “He is no longer able to study for example.”
But the court based in Strasbourg said that “its examination of the case did not reveal any violations of the Convention, and rejected the application as inadmissible for being manifestly ill-founded.”
Norwegian officials have repeatedly rejected allegations that Breivik is isolated, arguing that he is treated as a “VIP prisoner” and has regular contact with prison staff, his lawyer and visitors.
He has the use of three cells, each measuring more than 10 square meters and equipped with a television, computer, DVD player and gym gear. He has no Internet connection, however.
Survivors of the Utoeya massacre expressed satisfaction at the ruling.
“It’s a relief. We’re hoping not to hear his name again for many years to come,” Lisbeth Kristine Royneland, the head of a victims’ support group whose 18-year-old daughter was killed by Breivik, told AFP.
Writing on Twitter, a survivor of the massacre, Tore Remi Christensen, wrote: “The Breivik case is rejected in Strasbourg. Delighted. May he and all those who share his shitty message rot in hell.”
Breivik’s killing spree began on July 22, 2011, when he set off a bomb outside a government building in Oslo, killing eight people.
Disguised as a police officer and armed with a semi-automatic rifle and pistol, he then went to Utoya where the Labour Party was holding a youth camp, killing 69.
During his trial the extremist, who has changed his name to Fjotolf Hansen, repeatedly addressed the courts with Nazi salutes and complained about the cold coffee and frozen meals served in prison, among other things.
His sentence can be extended indefinitely if judges determine he remains a threat to society.
Rights court dismisses Breivik’s complaint about jail conditions
Rights court dismisses Breivik’s complaint about jail conditions
- Norwegian officials have repeatedly rejected allegations that Breivik is isolated, arguing that he is treated as a “VIP prisoner” and has regular contact with prison staff, his lawyer and visitors
- Breivik has the use of three cells, each measuring more than 10 square meters and equipped with a television, computer, DVD player and gym gear
Junta leader Gen. Mamdi Doumbouya is declared winner of Guinea’s election, provisional results show
- Mamady Doumbouya took power in 2021 coup
CONAKRY, Guinea: Guinea coup leader Mamady Doumbouya has been elected president, according to provisional results announced on Tuesday, completing the return to civilian rule in the bauxite- and iron ore-rich West African nation.
The former special forces commander, thought to be in his early 40s, seized power in 2021, toppling then-President Alpha Conde, who had been in office since 2010. It was one in a series of nine coups that have reshaped politics in West and Central Africa since 2020.
The provisional results announced on Tuesday showed Doumbouya winning 86.72 percent of the December 28 vote, an absolute majority that allows him to avoid a runoff.
The Supreme Court has eight days to validate the results in the event of any challenge.
Doumbouya’s victory, which gives him a seven-year mandate, was widely expected. Conde and Cellou Dalein Diallo, Guinea’s longtime opposition leader, are in exile, which left Doumbouya to face a fragmented field of eight challengers.
Doumbouya reversed pledge not to run
The original post-coup charter in Guinea barred junta members from running in elections, but a constitution dropping those restrictions was passed in a September referendum.
Djenabou Toure, the country’s top election official who announced the results on Tuesday night, said turnout was 80,95 percent. However voter participation appeared tepid in the capital Conakry, and opposition politicians rejected a similarly high turnout figure for the September referendum.
Guinea holds the world’s largest bauxite reserves and the richest untapped iron ore deposit at Simandou, officially launched last month after years of delay.
Doumbouya has claimed credit for pushing the project forward and ensuring Guinea benefits from its output.
His government this year also revoked the license of Emirates Global Aluminium’s subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation following a refinery dispute, transferring the unit’s assets to a state-owned firm.
The turn toward resource nationalism — echoed in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — has boosted his popularity, as has his relative youth in a country where the median age is about 19.
Political space restricted, UN says
Political debate has been muted under Doumbouya. Civil society groups accuse his government of banning protests, curbing press freedom and restricting opposition activity.
The campaign period was “severely restricted, marked by intimidation of opposition actors, apparently politically motivated enforced disappearances, and constraints on media freedom,” UN rights chief Volker Turk said last week.
On Monday, opposition candidate Faya Lansana Millimono told a press conference the election was marred by “systematic fraudulent practices” and that observers were prevented from monitoring the voting and counting processes.
The government did not respond to a request for comment.
