Norway is appealing a court verdict about the human rights of Anders Breivik, sentenced for terrorism and mass murder.
Norwegian Justice Minister Anders Anundsen said in a statement Tuesday he asked the attorney general to appeal the verdict after the Oslo district court ruled that the state had violated Breivik's rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The court said on April 20 that Norway violated Breivik's rights by keeping him in solitary confinement after he was sentenced for killing 77 people in a bomb-and-gun massacre in 2011. The court, however, also said that his right to a private life had not been violated.
Breivik, 37, sued the government last month and argued during a four-day hearing that solitary confinement, as well as frequent strip searches and the fact that he was often handcuffed while being moved between cells, violated his human rights.
Breivik is held in solitary confinement in a three-cell complex at the Skien prison, 130 kilometers from Oslo, where he can play video games, watch TV and exercise. In principle he is allowed visits from family and friends, but has not received any apart from his mother before she died.
Breivik was sentenced in August 2012 to a maximum 21 years in prison, which can be extended if he is still considered a danger.
Breivik killed eight people in a bomb attack outside a government building in Norway’s capital, then shot dead another 69 people, most of them teenagers, on the island of Utoya on July 22, 2011.
