Unrepentant mass killer Anders Breivik’s isolated confinement in a three-room prison suite furnished with a treadmill, a refrigerator, a DVD player, a Sony PlayStation, a desk, a television, and a radio constitutes “inhuman or degrading treatment” under the European Convention on Human Rights, an Oslo court has ruled. The court instructed Norwegian authorities in nonspecific terms to relax the restrictions imposed on Breivik and ordered the government to pay his legal fees, which total about $50,000.
Breivik, a racist right-wing fanatic, has never expressed remorse for killing 77 people in and near Oslo on July 22, 2011. Authorities have refused to allow him contact with other prisoners, censored his mail, and limited his phone conversations on the grounds that he could use such interactions to encourage further violence. He has, however, been allowed to enroll at Oslo University and pursue a degree via correspondence courses.
