Norwegian court rejects Breivik's request for conditional release as he remains dangerous

A court in Norway has rejected the request of ultra-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who murdered 77 people in 2011 and now wants to be paroled – news agencies reported yesterday that the court in Telemark has ruled that he must remain in prison because he is still dangerous. “The risk of violence is real and significant, and is the same as when [Breivik] was first convicted,” the district court said. 

“Because his mental state has not changed, there is a clear risk that he will return to the behavior that led to the terrorist acts on 22 July 2011,” the Associated Press quoted the verdict as saying. Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison for committing terrorism, which is the highest possible punishment in Norway. 

However, if a convict is considered dangerous, the sentence can be extended indefinitely and thus de facto transformed into a life sentence. The terrorist was first able to apply for release 10 years after his imprisonment. 

He can apply for release again one year from this rejection. Prosecutor Hulda Karlsdottir said during the January hearing that the assassin “did not show any real regret” in court and that his behavior is part of a “PR trick”. 

The prosecutor argued that the terrorist’s request should not be granted by the court. Breivik, who claims to have renounced violence, gave the Nazi salute on the first day of the hearing and openly espoused extremist views about the “superiority” of the “White race”. 

It was towards the close of July in 2011 when Breivik first detonated a bomb in Oslo’s Government district, killing eight people. Shortly thereafter he shot dead 69 members of a Social Democratic Youth summer camp on the nearby island of Utöya.