Rightwing extremist who killed 77 people says being held in isolation is like torture as he demands to be allowed visitors

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has accused the Norwegian state of trying to kill him by keeping him in isolation, which he described as “torture”.

The rightwing extremist, who killed 77 people in a bombing and gun massacre in 2011, also vowed to fight “to the death” for Nazism as he took the stand in his lawsuit against the state, confirming fears he would use the platform to grandstand his extremist views.

“I have fought for national socialism for 25 years, and I will fight for it to the death,” he said of the Nazi party’s political doctrine.

Breivik made a Nazi salute on the first day of proceedings on Tuesday but obeyed a judge’s orders not to do so on Wednesday.

Norwegian authorities have refused to televise his testimony to prevent him sending coded messages to supporters and out of respect for survivors and victims’ families.

Describing himself as a model prisoner, the 37-year-old claimed the state “has been trying to kill me for five years” by keeping him in isolation.

Breivik spent much of his testimony elaborating his extremist ideology, but he also complained of drinking cold coffee and eating frozen meals heated in a microwave – a fate “worse than waterboarding” – and said he was suffering from headaches, apathy and insomnia.

His lawyer has previously argued that isolation has caused Breivik clear damage, citing memory loss and an inability to focus on his political science studies.

Three hours were set aside for the court to hear Norway’s most infamous prisoner outline his jail conditions.

Breivik is serving a maximum 21-year sentence – which can be extended if he is still considered dangerous – for killing eight people in a bombing outside a government building in Oslo and then murdering another 69, most of them teenagers, in a rampage at a Labour youth camp.

Utøya, the island paradise turned into hell by Anders Behring Breivik Read more

The massacre on the island of Utøya lasted more than an hour, as he methodically stalked and killed attendees of the camp.

He has accused the state of breaching two clauses of the European convention on human rights prohibiting “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” and guaranteeing respect for “private and family life” and “correspondence”.

The state’s lawyers have argued that Breivik’s conditions fall “well within the limits of what is permitted” under the convention.

In his first public statement since his sentencing in 2012, Breivik told the court he now adhered to a “non-violent” version of national socialism, a statement bound to provoke many in a country occupied by the Nazis during the second world war.



For security reasons, the case is being heard in the gymnasium of the Skien prison in southern Norway, where he is serving his sentence.

Breivik made a series of demands, indicating he wanted his letters to be uncensored, see other prisoners and receive visits from at least five friends and supporters. He also wants the right to publish books.

He says he has been subjected to 885 strip searches since his arrest, which he called humiliating and senseless.

“It’s understandable when it’s justified, for example when it involves people who have a violent past or something like that, but I have been conducting myself in exemplary fashion for five years,” Breivik said.

He has access to three cells – for sleeping, studying and physical exercise – as well as a television, a computer without internet access, a games console, books and newspapers and puzzles.

Breivik is also able to prepare his own food and do his own laundry, according to state representatives.