Oslo — Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik threatened to go on
hunger strike for better video games and other perks to alleviate his
"torture"-like prison conditions, in a letter received by AFP Friday.
The
right-wing extremist -- who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting
rampage on July 22, 2011 -- enclosed a typed list of 12 demands sent to
prison authorities in November.
He described as "torture" the
conditions in two prisons -- Ila near Oslo and Skien in southeast Norway
-- where he is serving out a 21-year sentence.
The demands
include better conditions for his daily walk and the right to
communicate more freely with the outside world, which he argues are in
line with European rights legislation.
He also demanded the
replacement of a PlayStation 2 games console for a more recent PS3 "with
access to more adult games that I get to choose myself" as well as a
sofa or armchair instead of a "painful" chair.
"Other inmates have
access to adult games while I only have the right to play less
interesting kids games. One example is "Rayman Revolution", a game aimed
at three year olds," wrote the 35-year-old convicted killer.
Held
apart from other prisoners since 2011 for security reasons, Breivik
wrote that he has behaved in an "exemplary fashion" in prison, arguing
that he has the right to a wider "selection of activities" than other
inmates to compensate for his strict isolation.
Breivik also wants
his standard weekly allowance of 300 kroner ($49, 36 euros) to be
doubled, particularly to cover his postal charges for written
correspondence.
His mail is monitored and censored by prison
authorities which, he complained, considerably restricts and slows down
his contact with the outside world.
- 'In hell' -
Other
demands include an end to daily physical searches at Ila prison, and
access to a PC rather than to a "worthless typewriter with technology
dating back to 1873".
"You've put me in hell ... and I won't
manage to survive that long. You are killing me," he wrote to prison
authorities in November, threatening a hunger strike and further
right-wing extremist violence.
"If I die, all of Europe's
right-wing extremists will know exactly who it was that tortured me to
death ... That could have consequences for certain individuals in the
short term but also when Norway is once again ruled by a facist regime
in 13 to 40 years from now," he warned, calling himself a "political
prisoner".
On July 22, 2011, Breivik killed eight people in a bomb
attack outside a government building in the capital Oslo and later
killed a further 69, most of them teenagers, when he opened fire at a
Labour Youth camp on the island of Utoeya.
In the letter dated
January 29 he said that since there has not been any real improvement in
his prison conditions, a hunger strike would be "one of the only"
options at his disposal.
"The hunger strike won't end until the
Minister of Justice (Anders) Anundsen and the head of the KDI (the
Norwegian Correctional Services) stop treating me worse than an animal,"
he said, adding that he would "soon" make public the starting date of
his protest action.
Karl Hillesland, acting director of the prison where is being held, told AFP that no one is currently on hunger strike there.
- 'Human rights activist -
In
his letter Breivik attacks the Scandinvaian media which he accuses of
complicity with the "torture" he is subjected to by not reporting his
complaints.
He also refers to himself as a "human rights activist":
"You
seem to think that we -- all human rights activists who fight for one
fundamental human right (cultural self-determination) -- ... are Nazi
monsters who should be pushed into suicide," he wrote.
Breivik's lawyers announced in January 2013 that their client had lodged a complaint over alleged "aggravated torture".
"These
conditions have barely improved since," his lawyer Tord Jordet said
Thursday, adding that he was nonetheless "keeping his spirits up."
Norwegian police told AFP that a response to that year-old complaint is due next week.
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