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Police reject Breivik torture complaint

Police in Norway said on Monday that they had closed a preliminary investigation into a complaint by mass murderer Anders Breivik that his prison conditions amounted to "serious torture".

Police reject Breivik torture complaint
Ila Prison, one of the two prisons where Anders Behring Breivik complains he is being tortured - Photo: Holm Morten/Scanpix
The right-wing extremist — who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage on July 22, 2011 —  filed a formal complaint in January 2013 against Norway's minister of justice and the director of Ila prison near Oslo where is serving out a 21-year sentence. He has repeatedly warned that he may go on a hunger strike over the issue.
   
In the complaint, Breivik lamented the lack of activities on offer, countless body searches and an "almost total" ban on expressing himself – all of which, according to his lawyer, violate Norway's law that prohibits acts of "aggravated torture".
   
"The complaint has been examined in the light of current regulations," police commissioner Indrig Wirum told AFP. "On this basis we have concluded that neither the prison in Ila nor the
people mentioned in the complaint are guilty of any wrongdoing."
   
Breivik's lawyer told AFP that his client "was not surprised".
   
"He noted that the case has been closed despite significant documentation which demonstrates the violation of European prison regulations and human rights," said lawyer Tord Jordet.
   
"It does not seem that the police wanted to investigate thoroughly," he added.
   
Since being incarcerated and regularly moved for security reasons between two prisons — Ila near Oslo and Skien high security prison in southeast Norway — the convicted murderer has complained regularly about his living conditions.
   
On a list of 12 specific demands mailed to prison authorities he asked for an upgrade of his Playstaton 2 games console to a more modern PS3 version and the replacement of a "painful" desk chair with a more comfortable armchair.
   
On July 22, 2011, Breivik killed eight people in a bomb attack outside a government building in the capital Oslo and later murdered a further 69, most of them teenagers, when he opened fire at a Labour Youth camp on the island of Utøya.

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BREIVIK

Norway mosque shooter ‘has admitted the facts’: Police

A Norwegian man suspected of killing his step sister and opening fire in a mosque near Oslo last weekend, has admitted to the crimes though he has not officially entered a plea, police said on Friday.

Norway mosque shooter 'has admitted the facts': Police
Philip Manshaus appears in court on August 12. Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB Scanpix / AFP
Philip Manshaus, 21, was remanded in custody Monday, suspected of murder and a “terrorist act” that police say he filmed himself committing.
   
Answering police questions on Friday, “the suspect admits the facts but has not taken a formal position as to the charges,” Oslo police official Pal-Fredrik Hjort Kraby said in a statement.
   
Manshaus is suspected of murdering his 17-year-old step sister Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, before entering the Al-Noor mosque in an affluent Oslo suburb and opening fire before he was overpowered by a 65-year-old man.
   
Just three worshippers were in the mosque at the time, and there were no serious injuries.
   
Manshaus appeared in court this week with two black eyes and scrapes and bruises to his face, neck and hands.
   
Police have said he has “extreme right views” and “xenophobic positions” and that he had filmed the mosque attack with a camera mounted on a helmet. He had initially denied the accusations.
   
The incident came amid a rise in white supremacy attacks around the world, including the recent El Paso massacre in the United States.
   
Norway witnessed one of the worst-ever attacks by a rightwing extremist in July 2011, when Anders Behring Breivik, who said he feared a “Muslim invasion”, killed 77 people in a truck bomb blast near government offices in Oslo and a shooting spree at a Labour Party youth camp on the island of Utøya.