Oslo: A Norwegian court denied mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik’s parole request.
The Ringerike, Asker and Baerum District Court decided that Breivik would not be released on probation from prison. The court believes that the conditions for probation are not met, and the demand for release is therefore not upheld. The verdict is unanimous, reports Xinhua news agency.
“I have spoken to Breivik, and I take it to mean that he wants to appeal,” Breivik’s attorney, Oystein Storrvik, told the Norwegian news agency NTB.
Breivik appeared in court on November 19 to argue he should be released after spending more than 13 years in prison.
This marks the second time Breivik’s parole request has been rejected, following an earlier denial in 2022.
Earlier this year, the Oslo District Court ruled against Breivik in a lawsuit he filed challenging the conditions of his imprisonment.
On July 22, 2011, Breivik carried out one of Norway’s most devastating attacks, beginning with a car bomb explosion outside the government headquarters in Oslo that killed eight people. He then opened fire at a youth summer camp organised by the ruling Labor Party on Utoya Island, killing 69 individuals, most of them teenagers.
In 2012, the Oslo District Court sentenced Breivik to 21 years in prison, the maximum sentence under Norwegian law, with the possibility of extension. The verdict marked a legal conclusion to one of the darkest days in the country’s history.
–IANS