Norwegian prison authorities have, as expected, turned down a request for funeral leave from convicted terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 persons in a bombing and massacre in the Oslo area 18 months ago. The authorities claim the security risk is too high.
Breivik’s mother, Wenche Behring Breivik, died last last week after a lengthy illness and Breivik wanted to attend her funeral. He was sentenced, however, to Norway’s strongest possible prison term last year and is being held in a specially built, high security section of Ila Prison west of Oslo.
Prison authorities had earlier said that prisoners held under such high-security conditions are not eligible for leave and can only be taken out of prison for court proceedings or medical care that can’t be provided within the prison.
Breivik’s attorney told reporters that his client would appeal the rejection of his appeal for leave. His mother had visited him in prison the week before she died to say farewell, reported newspaper VG. Breivik has never expressed any regret for the eight persons he killed when he set off a powerful bomb in the heart of Oslo’s government complex or for the 69 others he later gunned down, mostly young Labour Party campers, on the island of Utøya.
newsinenglish.no staff
