Early Release Hearings | Assassin Breivik is still dangerous, says his psychiatrist

(Oslo) The already slim chances of an early release of neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik, ten years after the worst massacre committed in Norway in the post-war period, dwindled on Wednesday with the key testimony of a psychiatrist, who presented him as still just as dangerous.

Claiming to have renounced violence, Breivik, who killed 77 people in 2011, is pleading for parole. The 42-year-old extremist was sentenced in 2012 to the maximum sentence at the time, ie 21 years in prison likely to be extended as long as he is deemed dangerous and accompanied by a minimum of ten years.

A psychiatrist who observed him in prison, the only expert to be called to the stand this week, has undermined his hopes of an immediate release.

“I believe that Breivik has the same diagnosis as he always had,” said Randi Rosenqvist in the Telemark court on the second day of proceedings relocated, for security reasons, to the prison gymnasium of Skien (south) where the inmate is serving his sentence.

“The risk of future violent acts has not changed from 2012 and 2013 when I wrote my first assessment” made when Breivik was tried, she said.

On July 22, 2011, Breivik detonated a bomb near the government headquarters in Oslo, killing eight people and then killing 69 others, mostly teenagers, by opening fire on a Labor Youth summer camp on the island of Utøya.

According to M^me Rosenqvist, the inmate suffers from personality disorders which she described as “asocial, histrionic and narcissistic”, lacks empathy and would be “very unlikely to function” in society if released.

Generally placid, the person concerned repeatedly shook his head and laughed during his speech.

Citing his lack of credible remorse and his continued attempts to spread his ideology, prison authorities also pointed out that conditions for parole were not met.

“The prison believes that there is a significant danger that he will again commit crimes similar to those for which he was convicted, if he is released at this stage,” testified a legal adviser from the prison. Skien, Emily Krokann.

Hostility from other prisoners

Breivik, for his part, complained about the conditions of detention, saying he was treated “like an animal”, for lack of sufficient contact with the outside world.

In prison, he has three cells fitted out so that he can study there and do physical exercises. In 2016, he succeeded in having the state condemned for “inhuman” and “degrading” treatment due to his isolation, a judgment which was overturned on appeal.

“Someone who has been tried for a criminal act can never guarantee that they will never do it again because it depends on society, if they give them a chance or not,” he told the three on Wednesday. judges, who asked him to prove that he was no longer, as he claims, a violent militant.

His request for parole shocked in the Nordic country, where families of the victims, survivors and experts feared that he would make the procedure a political platform broadcast live by certain media.

With his Hitler salutes, political placards and ideological tirades, Breivik confirmed their fears.

He assured that in the event of early release, he would continue his pro-Nazi commitment, but through peaceful means.

Called to testify by the defense, the Swede Per Öberg, spokesman for the Nordic Resistance Movement, said that his neo-Nazi group was ready to maintain contact with Breivik to break its isolation.

“We don’t judge anyone,” he said by phone from Sweden.

For his part, M.^me Rosenqvist highlighted the difficulties in providing a form of social life in Breivik, a step seen as a necessary condition for rehabilitation and future reintegration into society.

“There aren’t many prisoners who want to talk to him,” she said. “Most want to hurt him.”

In theory, Breivik can apply for parole again a year after a possible rejection.