Norwegian mass murderer Breivik loses prison condition case

A Norwegian court on Wednesday rejected an appeal brought by right-wing extremist and mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, who claims his prison conditions are a violation of human rights. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 30 January 2025
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Norwegian mass murderer Breivik loses prison condition case

  • “The Court of Appeal considers that the restrictions are sufficiently justified,” the three judges said in their ruling
  • They also said that the prison authorities have put in place sufficient measures to compensate for his relative isolation in prison

OSLO: A Norwegian court on Wednesday rejected an appeal brought by right-wing extremist and mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, who claims his prison conditions are a violation of human rights.
Breivik, who killed 77 people in July 2011, has regularly complained about his prison conditions, despite them including three private cells, two Guinea pigs, a flat-screen television and a video game console.
Claiming that he has been “treated like an animal,” Breivik has sued the Norwegian state on several occasions in a bid to get improvements to compensate for his relative isolation.
He has argued that this isolation constitutes a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which prohibits “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
His case was struck down by a district court in February, after which he appealed.
“The Court of Appeal considers that the restrictions are sufficiently justified by the risk of violence that persists,” the three judges said in their ruling Wednesday.
They also said that the prison authorities have put in place sufficient measures to compensate for his relative isolation in prison.
The court also dismissed Breivik’s appeal for an easing of the filtering of his mail, for which he also invoked the ECHR on the right to correspondence.
On July 22, 2011, Breivik set off a bomb near government offices in Oslo, killing eight people, before gunning down 69 others, mostly teens, at a Labour Party youth wing summer camp on the island of Utoya.
He said he had killed his victims because they embraced multiculturalism.
He was sentenced in 2012 to 21 years in prison, which can be extended as long as he is considered a threat.


Chile wildfires leave 19 dead amid extreme heat as scores evacuated

Updated 59 min 10 sec ago
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Chile wildfires leave 19 dead amid extreme heat as scores evacuated

  • Fast-moving wildfires being worsened by intense heat, winds
  • Firefighters battling 23 active blazes spreading toward cities

CONCEPCION, Chile: Wildfires in Chile have left at least ​19 people dead, authorities said on Monday, as the government carried out mass evacuations and fought nearly two dozen blazes exacerbated by intense heat and high winds.
While weather conditions overnight helped control some fires, the largest were still active, with adverse conditions expected throughout the day, security minister, ‌Luis Cordero, said at ‌a news briefing on ‌Monday.
“The ⁠projection ​we ‌have today is of high temperatures,” Cordero said, and the main worry was that new fires would be triggered throughout the region.
Parts of central and southern Chile were under extreme heat warnings with temperatures expected to reach up to 37 Celsius (99 Fahrenheit).
STATE OF EMERGENCY ⁠DECLARED IN NUBLE, BIO BIO
As of late Sunday, Chile’s CONAF ‌forestry agency said firefighters were combating ‍23 fires across ‍the country, the largest of which were in regions ‍of Ñuble and Bío Bío, where President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe.
Over 20,000 hectares (77 square miles) have been razed so far, an area about the size ​of Seattle, with the largest fire surpassing 14,000 hectares on the outskirts of the ⁠coastal city Concepcion.
The fast-moving blaze tore through the towns of Penco and Lirquen over the weekend, destroying hundreds of homes and killing several people, with authorities still assessing the damage.
HEAT, BLAZES ALSO IMPACT ARGENTINA
Authorities are currently battling the fire as it threatened Manzano prison on the edge of Concepcion and the town of Tome to the north.
Both Chile and Argentina rang in the new year with heat waves which have continued ‌into January. Earlier this month, wildfires broke out in Argentina’s Patagonia, burning around 15,000 hectares.