Norway Mass Shooter Breivik Isolation Degrading, Deteriorates Mental Health

The lawyer of Norwegian mass shooter Anders Breivik argued Friday that prison isolation had hurt his client's mental health and violated EU laws that prohibit degrading punishment, public broadcaster NRK said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Advocate Oystein Storrvik made his closing argument following four days of court hearings at the Skien prison, where Breivik has been confined for almost five years. Breivik is suing the government for keeping him in isolation. He argues that solitary confinement amounts to torture.

"He is mentally vulnerable and it is a very, very weak expression," Oystein said, adding that both Breivik's right to humane treatment and to privacy were violated.

The lawyer also said that the court should not take the crime Breivik committed into account when it studied the case, as this was probably the last opportunity for the man to improve his living conditions.

"It should be irrelevant what the person is convicted of… The foundation of our cause is that he is serving a life sentence," Oystein claimed.

In 2012, Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison for a 2011 gun and bomb attack that killed 77 people at the Utoeya Island and outside a government building in Oslo. His jail term is the maximum sentence allowed by the Norwegian law, but the government may extend it if Breivik is still considered to be dangerous.