The Tiniest of Violins

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The man who slaughtered 77 people on an island in Norway in 2011 went back to court on Monday to sue his country for disregarding his human rights in detention, the Associated Press reported.

Anders Behring Breivik has spent the past 12 years in isolation while serving his prison sentence. Now, he is claiming that this has violated the European Convention on Human Rights. His lawyer said that this situation, which he described as “unique” in recent European judicial history, has left the murderer “suicidal.”

Norway is known for its rehabilitative judicial system, and conditions in its prisons are less harsh than in most other countries. For example, Breivik, who now goes by the name Fjotolf Hansen, is staying in a two-story complex within a prison featuring a kitchen, a TV room, and a gym, Euronews reported.

The right-wing extremist received the most severe sentence in Norway’s history – 21 years in prison, with an indefinite extension should he remain dangerous to society – after shooting 69 people, mainly teenagers, attending a summer camp on the small island of Utøya on July 22, 2011. Earlier that day, he had triggered a bomb near a government complex in the capital of Oslo, killing eight people.

The government says Breivik’s isolation from the rest of society is because he has shown no sign of any interest in his own rehabilitation.

On earlier occasions, he made the Nazi salute in court and said his acts were in self-defense, to protect Norway from multi-culturalism.

This is the second time Breivik has initiated a fight over his alleged right to human interaction. The first appeal was rejected by the European Court of Justice in 2016.

Some critics say this move might be an attempt to get attention. Still, the court has forbidden livestreaming his comments from the proceedings, much to the satisfaction of survivors and victims’ families.