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 The far right militant appeared in public for the first time since
his 2012 trial. In that time, he has had just one visitor, his
mother, who was allowed into prison and gave him a hug shortly
before she died of cancer in 2013.
Wearing a black suit, white shirt and golden tie, the 37-year-old
raised his right arm in a Nazi salute as he arrived. He did not say
anything. He had shaven off a beard and short blond hair from the
previous trial.
It was considered too dangerous to hear the case in Oslo and the
court is sitting inside the prison's gymnasium, whose walls are
lined with timber wall bars and a climbing wall as well as two
basketball hoops.
Breivik will argue that his isolation in Skien jail violates a ban
on "inhuman and degrading treatment" under the European Convention
on Human Rights, as well as depriving him of a right to family life.
 "He wants contact with other people," his lawyer, Oeystein Storrvik,
told reporters before the March 15-18 trial.
Oslo's office of the Attorney General says there is no case to
answer, saying in pre-trial documents: "there is on evidence that
the plaintiff has physical or mental problems as a result of prison
conditions".
The judge's verdict - there is no jury - will be issued in coming
weeks. Breivik killed eight people with a bomb in Oslo on July 22,
2011, and gunned down 69 others on an island nearby, many of them
teenagers. He is serving Norway's maximum sentence of 21 years,
which can be extended.
In prison he has a three-room cell with a television and a computer
but no Internet access. He is allowed out into a yard for exercise.
He only meets guards and medical personnel - even Storrvik has to
speak to him through glass.
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Norwegian authorities note that in a manifesto about his anti-Muslim
views, Breivik wrote that "prisons are considered an ideal arena for
which to recruit for political purposes." And other inmates might
attack him.
Storrvik said one sign of Breivik's suffering was inability to
concentrate on university studies he began by correspondence course
last year.
Storrvik might take the case to the European Court of Human Rights
if he fails in Norwegian courts.
In 2014, the court sanctioned Turkey, for instance, for inhuman
treatment of Abdullah Ocalan, founder of the Kurdistan Workers
Party, by keeping him in isolation for a decade until 2009.
By contrast, in France, jailed guerrilla mastermind Carlos the
Jackal lost a complaint of inhuman treatment in 2005. The court
ruled he had access to family and lawyers, even though he was
segregated from other prisoners.
(Writing by Alister Doyle, editing by Alistair Scrutton)
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