OSLO, Norway, April 20 (UPI) -- Mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has won his human rights case against the Norwegian government.
The self-proclaimed Nazi, who killed 77 people on a bomb and gun rampage in 2011, claimed that he was forced to endure "inhuman and degrading" conditions in prison.
A district court in Oslo ruled on Wednesday that the 37-year-old's treatment violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
After the judgment, Breivik's lawyer, Oystein Storrvik, called for his solitary confinement to be repealed.
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The court also ordered the Norwegian government to pay legal costs of 331,000 kroner ($40,800) for the right-wing extremist.
In her ruling, judge Helen Andenaes Sekulic said the right not to be subjected to inhuman treatment was "a fundamental value in a democratic society" and it also applied to "terrorists and killers."
Comparing himself to Nelson Mandela, Breivik claimed that he was kept alone in his cell for up to 23 hours a day, was denied contact with other inmates and was forced to communicate with guards and prison staff through a thick glass barrier.
He has been allowed, however, to watch TV, play video games and exercise. And he is entitled to visits from family and friends, but has reportedly not received any apart from his mother before she died.
He is said to have complained about the quality of the food he is being served in prison, describing his microwaved meals as "worse than water-boarding," and objecting to having to use plastic knives, forks and spoons.
Sekulic agreed that he was subjected to living conditions worse than other convicts in Norway, even those who had committed serious crimes. Breivik was even woken up every 30 minutes at night over a long period of time and subjected to strip searches, many performed in front of women.
"Taken together with the other stringent restrictions which he was subject, this was regarded as degrading treatment in the Convention sense," said the judge.
Breivik, who made a Nazi salute at the opening of the four-day hearing, killed eight people in a bomb attack outside a government building in Oslo in July 2011, then shot dead 69 mainly young people on the island of Utøya.
It was Norway's worst act of violence since World War II. He was sentenced to a maximum of 21 years behind bars, but he can be denied parole if he is considered to still be a danger.
