Published19. November 2024, 05:47
NorwayMass murderer wants to be released soon - Breivik back in court
Utøya attacker Anders Behring Breivik was convicted of murdering 77 people. Now the 45-year-old wants to be released soon.
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13 years after the attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Anders Breivik is again applying for release from prison.
Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in preventive detention in 2012 for murdering 77 people.
New external experts have examined Breivik and are presenting their report to the court.
The public prosecutor’s office and prison authorities still consider Breivik to be a significant risk.
With a bomb in the government district of Oslo and a crowd of young people on the island of Utøya, right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik tore a deep hole in the soul of Norway. More than 13 years later, survivors and relatives of the 77 people who died are still grappling with the outcome of the attacks, and the perpetrator sits in prison north-west of Oslo. Then, Breivik will have another check today and in the next two days to see if he can be released early under certain conditions. What about it – and what are Breivik’s chances of actually being released?
What was Breivik convicted of?
Regarding the most serious acts of violence that Norway has suffered in its post-war history so far. On July 22, 2011, the then 32-year-old detonated a car bomb in Oslo’s government district, killing eight. He then went to the nearby island of Utøya, where he massacred participants in the annual summer camp of the youth organization of the Democratic Social Workers Party. 69 mostly younger people were killed on
Breivik, who is now 45 years old and calls himself Fjotolf Hansen, justified his actions with right-wing extremist and Islamophobic motives. In the summer of 2012, he was sentenced to the highest sentence known to Norwegian jurisprudence at the time: 21 years of preventive detention with a minimum period of ten years.
21 years in prison for killing 77 people?
The 21 years in custody could suggest that Breivik will be out of prison after 21 years at the latest. But according to Norwegian law, imprisonment, rather than a normal prison sentence, means that his time behind bars can be repeatedly extended by five years if courts determine that the convicted person continues to pose a significant risk.
In theory, Breivik could remain behind bars until his death. After the minimum period has expired, he is also given the opportunity to apply for early release on probation – if his application is rejected, he can theoretically retry a year after this rejection.
What is being negotiated now?
At the beginning of 2022 – after that minimum period has expired – Breivik examined the court whether he could be released early. The judges at the then responsible Telemark District Court rejected this unanimously, stating that they consider Breivik still dangerous. He has committed crimes that have never been seen before in the legal history of Norway and he has the same ideological positions as in 2011, which they ruled. The court had no doubt that he is still capable of committing new serious crimes.
Now Breivik is trying again. The same question is before the judges of the district court in Ringerike, Asker and Bærum as in 2022: Is a mass murderer still a danger to society and is there a risk that he will commit serious crimes again while at large?
What are Breivik’s chances of success?
Still bad. Prosecutor Hulda Olsen Karlsdottir considers Breivik to be just as dangerous as he was before and during the terrorist attacks on July 22, 2011. The management of Ringerike prison, to which he was transferred in 2022, shares the same view. .
So everything is the same? Not necessary: For the first time since his trial in 2012, Breivik was examined by new forensic psychiatric experts who will present their more than 100-page report in court on Wednesday. Breivik’s defense attorney Øystein Storrvik expects this report to come not from internal psychiatrists and psychologists in the prison system, but from external experts.
How will Breivik present himself?
In previous court appearances, Breivik sought attention and attention. He repeatedly displayed and saluted Hitler and other right-wing extremist gestures and messages in court. At the beginning of 2024, in another case where he sued the Norwegian state for violating his human rights, he suddenly called to the witness stand. And this time? Visible remains. Storrvik’s defense attorney told the NTB news agency that he did not know or predict how Breivik would appear in court on Tuesday.
That is not yet clear. After Breivik’s first application was released early, it took almost two weeks for the responsible court to announce its verdict.
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What factors do expert assessments consider when evaluating the mental health and risk potential of violent offenders like Anders Behring Breivik?
Nal state assessments but rather from external experts, which may offer a different perspective on Breivik’s mental health and risk potential. This could potentially influence the court’s decision regarding his request for early release.
However, given the gravity of his crimes and the enduring trauma felt by survivors and the families of the victims, many believe that the odds of Breivik being granted an early release remain low. As it stands, both the public prosecutor’s office and the prison authorities maintain that he poses a significant risk, which adds weight to their opposition against his release.
while Anders Behring Breivik is once again seeking early release from his 21-year preventive detention for the mass murder of 77 people in 2011, the prevailing assessments, along with a history that indicates he has not changed his extremist views, suggest that the court may reject his request.