On the other side of the world, a 44-year-old man in a black suit and brown tie sat in a courtroom to launch a legal bid to end his twelve years in isolation.
This man is Anders Behring Breivik, a far right fanatic who now goes by Fjotolf Hansen. On July 22nd of 2011, he detonated a van bomb in Norway’s capital city of Oslo which killed eight civilians. He then proceeded to shoot dead 69 more people, mainly children at a youth summer camp on a small local island. In the aftermath of the attacks, 77 were left dead, with about 241 wounded.
The mass killings were the largest seen in Norway since World War II.
Thirteen years later, Breivik is suing the state of Norway for supposed human rights abuses. His lawyers claim that the isolation of his prison cell left him suicidal and dependent on the anti-depressant known as Prozac.
“He has been isolated for about 12 years,” said lawyer Oeystein Storrvik. “He is only in contact with professionals, not with other inmates.”
This is his second attempt to take his government to court, after his case was slapped down in 2017.
Breivik claims that the solitary confinement he has been placed under since 2012 is classified as ‘inhumane punishment’ as described in the European Convention on Human Rights. He is asking for the isolation to be lifted, along with a decrease in restrictions on his correspondence with the outside world.
Most seem to disagree.
“I mean [Breivik] is a mass murderer,” says Amrita Mathura, a 9th Grader. “He is such a dangerous person that he isn’t even allowed to interact with other inmates. He should be isolated from the rest of the world.”
“This is completely wrong,” says Manor Pniel, an 11th grader. “The person is a serial killer and now has the guts to complain about his human rights. He has no right to sue Norway over isolation. He put himself there when he decided to destroy hundreds of peoples lives.”
As of right now, there is no definite decision on whether or not Brevik’s demands will be met. But the circumstances seem to point to another dismissal of his complaints, as his country still grieves for those lost in the acts of terrorism he committed.
Breivik doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
