On the final day of a three-day parole hearing in Norway, prosecutor Hulda Karlsdottir said that it was their “clear view” that a far-right extremist who killed 77 people in 2011 was a poor candidate for release after 10 years in prison, as Norwegian law permits.
Far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik is serving Norway’s maximum 21-year sentence for setting off a bomb in Oslo’s government district and carrying out a shooting massacre at a summer camp for left-wing youth activists.
On the hearing’s opening day, Breivik professed white supremacist views and flashed Nazi salutes while claiming to have renounced violence.
Karlsdottir added that Breivik appeared more concerned about addressing the media, but his lawyer however said he must be given a chance at freedom and refuted allegations Breivik’s appearance at a parole hearing was a “PR stunt”.
“I believe that when you have a person sitting in isolation for ten years, he must think about the possibilities of freedom. When we then give him absolutely legitimate access to the court to decide freedom, then it is important to try it,” explained Øystein Storrvik.
Breivik repeated again on Thursday, as he was given the last word as the hearing closed, that he was refraining from violence.
A psychiatrist who has observed him since 2012 testified on Wednesday that the far-right extremist can’t be trusted and a prison official told the judges hearing the parole request “there is an imminent danger” that, if released, Breivik would again commit serious crimes.
Lisbeth Kristine Royneland, who lost her daughter in the attack, added that the three-day parole hearing proves just “how dangerous” Breivik is.
“You know, he’s following a plan, and that plan was published in 2011 in his compendium, which says how he’s going to use the media to get his right-wing speech out. And that’s what he did. And therefore, I’m a bit disappointed in the media, some of the media, because I think it’s OK to film the court case as a document, but not to stream it live.”
His defence team argued that he should be released to prove that he is reformed and no longer a threat to society.
A final decision will be issued later this month.
