Breivik files ‘aggravated torture’ complaint

Convicted mass killer Anders Behring Breivik has filed a complaint with Nodic prison authorities, claiming he is being tortured amid his 21-year prison sentence for killing 77 people. Breivik’s lawyer Tord Joret told the media “Breivik believes they are trying to make his situation in prison as unliveable and unbearable as possible so as to pressure him to commit suicide,” Reuters reports.

He added, “No matter what crime you have committed, you shouldn’t be subjected to degrading treatment that there is no justification for.”

Breivik said in the formal complaint that he is continuously forced to undergo body searches, that he is overly isolated and that his freedom of speech is being violated.

The news comes just weeks after justice officials announced the 33-year-old’s two-decade jail sentence. Breivik is currently being held in a solitary confinement facility consisting of three rooms: one for sleeping, another for exercise and another for studying; each measures about eight square metres in area.

Mr Joret said in a statement, “Breivik says he has been totally isolated from other inmates for one-and-a-half years, that he has been subjected to degrading body inspections and that he has had no possibilities to get fresh air or to have recreational activity.”

The Norwegian Justice Ministry has since responded, “The case is very well documented and we will give the police all the information that they want.”

Knut Bjarkeid, the head of prison in which Breivik is being held, told the media, “Many of the measures surrounding Breivik are being created to avoid a hostage-taking, which would be the only way for him to get through all the different layers of security that have been established between him and freedom.”