A Norwegian court will consider today the request for the early release of Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right extremist convicted of the Oslo and Uteja massacre more than ten years ago, when the total death toll has risen to 77.
The Telemark District Court, based in the town of Sehem, about 130 miles (XNUMX km) southwest of Oslo, will examine whether and to what extent the perpetrator of the massacre continues to pose a threat to Norwegian society. The hearing is scheduled to last three days; however, it is possible that it will be extended to a fourth.
Anders Behring Breivik is initially expected to make a statement in order to argue in favor of his request.
The verdict is expected to be announced next week.
The 42-year-old far-right extremist, now self-proclaimed Fiotolf Hansen, detonated a car bomb in the Oslo district of government buildings on July 22, 2011, killing eight people. Then, disguised as a police officer, he went - armed - to the island of Utegia, where members of the youth of the Labor Party participated in a camp, and began to shoot them in the cold. Its victims were 69, mostly young people.
It was the bloodiest attack in the country since World War II. Her perpetrator arranged to distribute a "manifesto" with various far-right and anti-Islamic ideologies before committing it.
A court in Oslo sentenced him in 2012 to 21 years in prison, the heaviest sentence at the time. It was envisaged that he could request early release after 10 years.
The sentence of the minimum sentence, of ten years imprisonment, was completed on June 5, 2021, as it included the 445 days he spent in pre-trial detention pending his trial.
Breivik's sentence also has a "precautionary" clause extending his detention, which means he could remain in prison even after completing 21 years of his sentence if convicted of continuing to pose a threat to society. Theoretically, it is possible that he will die in old age in prison.
The prosecution proposes that the perpetrator of the massacre remain in prison and it is considered very likely that the court will agree.
The court in Oslo had assessed when convicting him that Anders Behring Breivik would continue to have the intent, as well as the possibility, to commit murder, or murders, even after completing his sentence.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ-dpa