Anders Behring Breivik has sued the Norwegian state and prison authorities over restrictions he faced while serving his 21-year prison sentence for the attacks, considered the worst acts of violence in Norway since World War II.
Oystein Storrvik, Breivik’s attorney, has argued that the terms of his client’s detention, including being held in isolation and having his correspondence censored, are inhumane and degrading, violating the European Convention of Human Rights.
The 37-year-old has three cells and access to an exercise area, but was denied contact with other inmates at the Skien high security prison, a two-hour drive south of the capital of Oslo.
However, he has been incarcerated there since 2013.
Four days have been reserved for the hearing, which for security reasons would be held in the prison’s sports hall.
Breivik was scheduled to testify on Wednesday.
The state has rejected Breivik’s complaint in a written reply to the Oslo District Court, saying he showed no signs of physical or mental problems.
Marius Emberland of the Office of the Attorney General was to represent the state.
Breivik was sentenced in August 2012 for the attacks on July 22, 2011, which took place in Oslo and at a political youth camp organised by the Labour Party near the capital.
Breivik said that his aim was to punish the Labour Party, then in office, over its failure to stem the flow of Muslim immigrants and multiculturalism.
(dpa/NAN)