The Norwegian state says it does not agree that prison conditions for mass killer Anders Breivik violate his human rights. The country’s justice
The Norwegian state says it does not agree that prison conditions for mass killer Anders Breivik violate his human rights. The country’s justice minister said on Tuesday it intends to appeal a court ruling that they do.
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Last week a district court said that keeping Breivik largely in isolation breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ruling found he had been woken up hourly by guards for long periods and he had been strip searched.
“In our assessment, the main issue here, is that the court set the threshold too low when characterise what is inhumane or degrading treatment by the European Commission on Human Rights, Article 3,” said Fredrik Sejersted, Attorney General. “We are going to appeal on this issue.”
“This is a right the counterpart can use, and that is how it is,” said Oystein Storrvik, defence attorney for Behring Breivik. “We were prepared on the option the Norwegian state chose.”
Breivik is convicted of killing eight people in a bomb attack in Oslo five years ago. He went on to massacre another 69 people on an island to the northwest of the capital at a youth meeting of the Labour Party.