Keystone
13 years after the right-wing extremist terrorist attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utøya that left 77 people dead, a new trial has begun in Norway over the prison sentence of convicted mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.
For the second time, Breivik has applied for a judicial review of whether he can be released from prison early on parole. His chances of success are considered to be slim.
Breivik made a right-wing extremist gesture with his right hand as he entered a gymnasium at the high-security Ringerike prison, which had been converted into a makeshift hearing room, and again displayed a poster with a political message. “I am not a person. I haven’t been a person for 13 years,” he told journalists on his arrival, according to the NTB news agency. He is a “collectivist” and a “political soldier” who continues to serve his “factions”, the 45-year-old said. A shaved Z was visible above his right ear on his otherwise bald head, indicating his support for Russia.
When asked what he would do if he was released, Breivik said that he wanted to leave Norway as soon as possible if he was allowed to do so. At the beginning of the trial, prosecutor Hulda Olsen Karlsdottir began her presentation. Breivik was due to explain himself in court in the midday hours.
Worst acts of violence in Norway’s post-war history
On July 22, 2011, Breivik committed the most serious crimes in Norway’s post-war history: First, he detonated a car bomb in Oslo’s government district, killing eight people. He then carried out a massacre on Utøya among the participants of the annual summer camp of the youth organization of the Social Democratic Labour Party. 69 mainly young people were killed on the island. Breivik justified his actions with right-wing extremist and Islamophobic motives.
In 2012, the assassin was sentenced to the then maximum sentence of 21 years’ preventive detention with a minimum term of ten years. After this minimum term had expired, he had it reviewed at the beginning of 2022 whether he could be released on parole. The Telemark District Court, which had jurisdiction at the time, rejected the application after a hearing lasting several days. The district court of Ringerike, Asker and Bærum, which now has jurisdiction, has also scheduled three days of hearings until Thursday.
SDA
Swiss
