Norwegian court rejects mass killer Anders Behring Breivik’s 2nd bid for parole

OSLO, Norway (AP) - A Norwegian court has rejected a second bid for parole by mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in 2011.

The Ringerike, Asker and Bærum district court last month held a parole hearing for the 45-year-old far-right extremist, who is serving a 21-year sentence. In a written verdict dated Wednesday, it said that Breivik’s request was denied and that it considered it clear that continued detention was necessary in the interest of public safety.

It said it was positive that Breivik had embarked on programs that could have a rehabilitating effect, but that has not yet progressed far enough to have a significant impact on assessments of the risk of him reoffending.

Breivik was convicted in 2012 of mass murder and terrorism for a bombing that killed eight people at a government building in Oslo, and a shooting massacre on Utøya island where he gunned down 69 people at a holiday camp for youth activists from the center-left Labor Party.

Breivik’s parole application was heard in a makeshift courtroom in the gymnasium at the Ringerike prison, outside Oslo, where a similar hearing was held in January 2022.

Authorities in Norway have insisted Breivik has the same rights as any other prisoner and argue that treating him differently would undermine the principles that underpin Norwegian society, including the rule of law and freedom of speech.

He has been held in isolation since he began serving his prison sentence in 2012 and has argued several times that his treatment amounts to inhumane punishment under the European Convention on Human Rights. Each time courts have rejected his claims.

At the Ringerike prison, he is held in a two-story complex with a kitchen, dining room and TV room with an Xbox, several armchairs and black and white pictures of the Eiffel Tower on the wall. He also has a fitness room with weights, a treadmill and a rowing machine.