Norwegian Telemark's District Court has rejected a request for parole for far-right terrorist Anders Breivik, who was sentenced to 21 years in prison for killing 77 people in 2011. This is reported by NRK broadcaster.
< p>Anders Breivik (left) in 2017. Screenshot: Euronews
The court concluded that the prisoner «did not show noticeable remorse» and did not demonstrate sufficient sympathy and compassion for the victims of the attack. The court also considered that the risk of Breivik's repeated use of violence is as real as it was in the summer of 2012, when the man was taken into custody.
“He verbally expressed grief for the victims. But at the same time, he defended and, perhaps, considered legal his actions,
saying that most of the victims on Utoya were not children but by people in leadership positions. And this is despite the fact that he should know that among the killed were children under the age of 14, ”the court ruling says.
The prosecutor's office demanded that the prisoner's petition be denied. “This is the same Breivik who smashed the government quarter. This is the same man who lured young people to Utoya, deceived them into believing that they would receive help, and then shot them, ”said the representative of the prosecutor’s office.
According to the Norwegian newspaper Dagsavisen, Breivik himself stated that he was «brainwashed», so he should not be held responsible for the attack. The convict before the start of the meeting raised his hand in a Nazi gesture and showed the posters he had brought with him with the slogan «civil war of the Nazis» and the call «to stop the genocide against our white peoples.»
The prisoner's defense insisted that «the conditions of imprisonment could make Breivik more dangerous and his release would never be possible.» Also, lawyer Øystein Storrvik said that prison conditions do not allow the court to decide whether the convict is trustworthy for parole.