Norwegian mass killer Breivik has not reformed, must stay in jail, prosecution says

[January 20, 2022]  By Victoria Klesty

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who in 2011 killed 77 people and maimed dozens more, has not reformed during his time in prison and should be kept behind bars, a state prosecutor told his parole hearing on Thursday.

"He has demonstrated no empathy or genuine regret," Prosecutor Hulda Karlsdottir said in closing remarks at the end of three days in court. "He continues to glorify his own role."

Breivik, an anti-Muslim neo-Nazi, killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo and then gunned down 69 more, most of them teenagers, in Norway's worst peacetime atrocity.

Having earlier described the murders to the court, the prosecution on Thursday provided a detailed account of the cases of 33 survivors who were shot, many of whom were hit multiple times and injured for life.

Breivik's assurances that he will no longer commit violence are simply not credible, Karlsdottir said.

"This is a PR stunt," she told the court, referring to the hearing, at the start of which on Tuesday Breivik gave a straight-arm Nazi salute as he entered the courtroom.

Breivik, 42, is serving Norway's maximum sentence of 21 years, which can be extended indefinitely if he is deemed a continued threat to society. He is entitled to apply for parole, and said he hopes to be released eventually.

Mass killer Anders Behring Breivik and defence lawyer Oystein Storrvik attend the third day of a hearing at a makeshift courtroom, where Breivik is requesting release on parole in Skien prison, Norway, January 20, 2022. The case is being processed by Telemark District Court, but is physically taking place in Skien. NTB/Ole Berg-Rusten via REUTERS

"I'm convinced I will be, and that I won't die in prison," Breivik said in a brief exchange with reporters after the court was adjourned on Wednesday. "I think I'll be released some time between 2032 and 2070."

By the end of 2070, Breivik would be 91 years old.

A prison service psychiatrist testified on Wednesday that Breivik's capacity for violent acts was undiminished.

Also on Wednesday, a prison official told the court that Breivik had gone on a hunger strike in 2018 and smeared a swastika made from excrement on the wall of his cell.

But like all other prisoners in Norway, Breivik has the legal right to seek release, and the correctional service is obliged under the law to see this as an eventual goal, his lawyer Oeystein Storrvik said.

"There is a duty to point towards life in freedom," he said.

In his own testimony on Tuesday, Breivik blamed online radicalisation by far-right extremists for his crimes, saying he had been "brainwashed" into carrying out the attacks.

Breivik also said he would keeping fighting for white supremacy and national socialist dominance, albeit via peaceful means.

(Reporting by Victoria Klesty, writing by Terje Solsvik, editing by Mark Heinrich)

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