Anders Breivik: Norwegian mass murderer loses human rights appeal against prison conditions

Killer serving a 21-year prison sentence for murdering 77 people in 2011 car bombing

Breivik says his near-isolation in a three-room cell violates a ban on inhuman or degrading treatment and a right to privacy and a family life (AFP/Getty)

The European Court of Human Rights has rejected an appeal by Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik against his near-isolation in prison, which he says amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment.

Mr Breivik, who has legally changed his name to Fjotolf Hansen, killed 77 people in a car bombing in central Oslo and shooting spree on Utoeya island in 2011, the worst act of violence in the Nordic country since the Second World War.

The Strasbourg-based court "rejected the application as inadmissible for being manifestly ill-founded", according to a ruling by a committee of three judges.

"The decision is final," it said.

Mr Breivik, an anti-Muslim right-wing fanatic, says his near-isolation in a three-room cell violates a ban on inhuman or degrading treatment and a right to privacy and family life under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Oslo district court agreed with him in a 2016 ruling, but it was overturned by an appeals court in March 2017. Norway's Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in the case.

Norway says that draconian measures, including hundreds of strip searches and no contact with other inmates, are justified for an unrepentant 39-year-old far-right extremist who could be attacked by other prisoners.

Mr Breivik is serving Norway's longest sentence — 21 years with the possibility of an extension. His only contacts are lawyers and professionals such as guards and health workers.

Mr Breivik's lawyer was not immediately available for comment.

Reuters