Norway: Terrorist Breivik establishing Fascist Party, wants to run for Parliament

Imprisoned Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011 in attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utöya, is trying to create an ultra-right Fascist political party in Norway and to become an MP. He is charging the authorities with intentionally preventing him from doing so and is threatening to sue.  

In Norway prisoners retain all of their civil rights irrespective of the seriousness of their crimes or their punishment. "Nothing in our laws prevents him from creating a party. He has the full right to do so as long as he meets the conditions required, of course," said Andreas Skulberg, a highly-placed official in the Norwegian Justice Ministry, when asked by Agence France-Presse about Brevik's complaint.    

Breivik was sentenced to the maximum prison sentence permitted under Norwegian law, 21 years, with the option to extend that sentence to life in prison. The 35-year-old man claims prison authorities are violating his rights by confiscating the letters he is sending out to gather the signatures essential to registering his party.  

In an open letter written from his cell, the convicted mass murderer gives the Justice Ministry an ultimatum to respond by mid-September, after which he intends to sue them. Breivik committed his murders in the name of a struggle against multiculturalism and the "invasion of Islam" and explains his effort to establish the Norwegian Fascist Party (NFP) by saying that he now condemns violence and wants to change the current democratic system through political activity instead.

Breivik is said to have taken inspiration from the entry of the ultra-right into the Greek Parliament, for example. As in past communications, he also discusses the establishment of a Nordic League (NL) movement.

"My heart bleeds over the barbarity I have committed. As a former activist, nothing in life is more important to me than striving to make sure that nothing of the sort ever happens again. The aim of the NFP and NL is to make sure of that," writes Breivik, whose mental health is still a topic of discussion.

Breivik explains in the letter that he is using the word "Fascist" so that his party will not be labeled "Nazi". "Because we will be demonized all the same, it is tactically justifiable to say this clearly," reads the letter, which he has signed as "party secretary and candidate for MP."

On 22 July 2011, Breivik set off a bomb in the government quarter of Oslo that cost eight people their lives. Two hours later, the terrorist shot dead 69 members of a Social Democratic Youth summer camp on the nearby island of Utöya.