Oslo, Nov. 19, (dpa/GNA) – A new court hearing began in Norway on Tuesday regarding the prison term of convicted mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, 13 years after the far-right terrorist attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utøya which left 77 people dead.
For the second time, Breivik requested a court review of whether he can be released early on parole. His chances of success are considered slim.
Breivik made a far-right gesture with his arm and displayed a poster with a political message when he entered a gym at the Ringerike high-security prison that has been converted into a temporary courtroom.
“I am not a person. I haven’t been a person for 13 years,” he told journalists upon his arrival, the Norwegian NTB news agency reported. The 45-year-old called himself a “collectivist” and a “political soldier” who continues to serve his “faction.”
A shaved letter Z was visible above his right ear on his otherwise bald head, indicating his support for Russia.
When asked what he would do if released, Breivik said that he wanted to leave Norway as soon as possible, if allowed. Prosecutor Hulda Olsen Karlsdottir then began the proceedings with her remarks. Breivik will have the opportunity to address the court later.
In July 2011, Breivik committed the most serious crimes in Norway’s post-war history. He began detonating a car bomb in the Oslo government district, killing eight people.
He then carried out a massacre on Utøya Island, killing 69 mostly young people at the annual summer camp of the youth organization of the Social Democratic Labour Party. Breivik justified his actions with right-wing extremist and Islamophobic motives.
In 2012, he was sentenced to the then maximum sentence of 21 years of preventive detention with a minimum term of ten years.
After the minimum term had expired, he applied at the beginning of 2022 to see if he could be released on probation.
The Telemark District Court, which had jurisdiction at the time, rejected the application after a hearing that lasted several days.
The Ringerike, Asker and Bærum District Court, which now has jurisdiction, has also scheduled three days of hearings concluding on Thursday.
GNA