A Norwegian court rejected the parole request on Tuesday of a bomber who killed 77 people in Oslo, Norway, in 2011, stating there remains “an obvious risk” that the man could return to a dangerous state of mind.
Oslo bomber Anders Behring Breivik was denied parole after a hearing last month in which he displayed contradictory views, renouncing violence despite flashing a Nazi salute in front of three judges.
“Because his psychiatric condition is unchanged, there is an obvious risk that he will fall back on the behavior that led up to the terrorist acts on July 22, 2011,” the court said in its ruling, obtained by the Associated Press. “[The court] has no doubt that [Breivik] still today has the ability to commit new serious crimes that may expose others to danger.”
A psychiatrist who has been monitoring Breivik since 2012 told the court last month that Breivik cannot be trusted, and a prison official said there would be “imminent danger” if Breivik was released.
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But Breivik’s lawyers argued that Breivik should be allowed to prove that he is no longer a threat, calling it a paradox that someone is “treated so badly in prison that he never gets better. He never gets out.”
Breivik is serving a 21-year sentence after he was found guilty of bombing a government district in Oslo, near the office of then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, and shooting people at a summer camp on a nearby island. Eight people were killed in the explosion, with 209 injured, and 69 were killed in the shooting, with 32 injured.
Tuesday’s court ruling can be appealed by Breivik’s legal team. Breivik’s lawyer Oeystein Storrvik said he plans to appeal the court’s decision, according to the BBC.
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Breivik could remain in prison for more than the 21 years to which he was sentenced under a provision that allows courts to keep prisoners locked up longer than sentenced if deemed a threat to society.
