Saturday, January 22, 2022

Breivik Unchanged, Seeks Parole

 



Now age 42, Anders Behring Breivik seeks release from prison after serving half of his 21-year sentence. He spends his days in a three-room cell, playing video games, exercising, watching TV, and taking university-level courses in mathematics and business.

A prosecutor in Norway said on 20 January (2022) that Breivik is "a very dangerous man" and therefore a poor candidate for release after 10 years in prison, as Norwegian law permits.

On the final day of a three-day parole hearing, prosecutor Hulda Karlsdottir said in her closing argument that Anders Behring Breivik "has not shown any genuine remorse in court" and his behavior there is part of a "PR stunt."

"In the clear view of the prosecution, Breivik's request for parole should not be granted," Karlsdottir said.

Breivik is being treated leniently though his sprees of violence remain unprecedented in Norway. He killed eight in an Oslo bombing in 2011, and then stalked and gunned down 69 people, mostly teens, at a political summer camp on the island of Utoya.

During a three-day parole hearing this week, Breivik renounced violence, but also flashed a Nazi salute and espoused white supremacy, echoing ideas in a manifesto he released at the time of his killing spree. The outburst was familiar to Norwegians who had watched him deliver rambling diatribes during his partially televised criminal trial.

A psychiatrist who has observed Breivik since 2012 testified Wednesday that he can't be trusted. A prison official told the judges hearing the parole request "there is an imminent danger" that, if released, Breivik would again commit serious crimes.

Breivik is a mentally ill person who believes he has done nothing wrong and doubtless would continue his acts of terror against perceived enemies. He lives by his own Nietzschean logic.

Breivik once said, "As for the Church and science, it is essential that science takes an undisputed precedence over biblical teachings. Europe has always been the cradle of science, and it must always continue to be that way. Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I'm not an excessively religious man. I am first and foremost a man of logic. However, I am a supporter of a monocultural Christian Europe."

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