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Norway's appeals court to rule on Breivik's rights violation next month

Xinhua, January 19, 2017 Adjust font size:

An appeals court in Norway is expected to rule next month whether the government has violated the human rights of convicted mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik in prison, public broadcaster NRK reported Wednesday.

The six-day long proceedings of the court to exam the government's appeal against an earlier verdict by a district court that the human rights of Breivik had been violated in prison ended on Wednesday.

Although Breivik's lawyer, Oystein Storrvik, announced that he was prepared to take the case to the supreme court if he does not succeed in the appeals court, and also to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if necessary, Breivik will not have access to the supreme court, the report said.

"In the supreme court, the parties' lawyers will meet and present their posts. It is not common that the plaintiff appears in the supreme court," judge Ina Stromstad told NRK.

According to judge Oystein Hermansen, the verdict from the appeals court will be ready in the second half of February. That means eventual appeal can be treated in the supreme court in autumn.

However, it is not certain that the supreme court will process an appeal, as it may only happen when the case ends up before the European Court of Human Rights.

The attorney general Fredrik Sejersted, however, pointed out that 95 percent of the appeals that are treated in Strasbourg get rejected.

Storrvik, on the other hand, said that this statistics is not particularly valid in Breivik's case.

"The case in any case appears to be special. My personal assessment is that it will be possible," he said.

Last year Oslo district court supported the 37-year-old mass killer's claim that his prison conditions violated his human rights as he was subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment according to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

On July 22, 2011, Breivik set off a car bomb that killed eight people outside the government headquarters in Oslo and then killed 69 others in a shooting rampage on Utoya Island, where young members of the governing Labor Party had gathered for their annual summer camp.

Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2012 at Oslo district court. Endit