Mass killer Breivik loses Norway human rights case

By Gwladys Fouche

OSLO (Reuters) -Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik lost against the state in his bid to end his isolation in prison, a court ruled on Thursday.

The far-right fanatic, who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in 2011, sued the state in January arguing his prison conditions violated his human rights.

"The Oslo District Court has, after an overall assessment, concluded that Breivik's sentencing conditions are not a violation of human rights," it said in a statement accompanying the verdict.

Breivik is serving a 21-year sentence, the maximum penalty at the time of his crimes, which can be extended for as long as he is deemed a threat to society.

He has been held in isolation ever since he killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo and gunned down 69 others, most of them teenagers, on Utoeya island, on July 22, 2011.

The case took place in January at Breivik's high-security prison, set on the shore of the Tyrifjorden lake, where Utoeya also lies.

Breivik testified he was sorry for what he had done and broke down in tears as he said his life in prison isolation was a nightmare that left him considering suicide daily.

Yet, a day later, a psychologist who co-wrote a fresh risk assessment about the killer testified he was neither depressed nor suicidal and was doing "very well".

"In summary, the court has come to the conclusion that the sentencing conditions cannot be said to be, or to have been, disproportionately burdensome," said the verdict.

Breivik's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, editing by Terje Solsvik)