OSLO, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Norway court on Tuesday started six-day-long proceedings to exam the government's appeal against a verdict that the human rights of convicted mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011, had been violated in prison.
Attorney General Fredrik Sejersted announced a plan to "colour more description of daily life in prison to show that the treatment is far from inhuman and degrading" in the appeal proceedings held at the Skien prison, about 100 km southwest of Olso, according to newspaper Aftenposten's report.
Sejersted said he would explain to the court why the state believes that the verdict of the Oslo district court was wrong.
Last year, Oslo district court supported the mass killer's claim that his prison conditions violated his human rights as he was subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment according to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
The state, which was ordered to pay over 330,000 kroner (38,476 U.S. dollars) in legal fees, called the district court's assessment wrong, inadequate and poorly founded shortly thereafter.
The question is now whether the government has changed its strategy and whether there are areas they will emphasize more after the defeat in court last year.
"The case has not changed its character. Basic features for us will be the same as in the district court," Sejersted told Aftenposten.
"That said, we will firstly spend some more time to clarify the systematic risk assessments that were done. Secondly, we will aim to colorize the description of life in prison somewhat more to show that this is far from inhuman or degrading treatment," he said.
Sejersted works on behalf of the Ministry of Justice together with lawyer Marius Emberland in the case.
Lawyer Oystein Storrvik, who represents Breivik, met his client in Skien prison on Monday evening.
"We are preparing this case as all other cases and in the usual way," Storrvik said.
Breivik has been kept isolated since July 2011. He has no contact with other inmates, but has had more contact with prison officers after the district court's judgment.
The only visit of a non-professional was when he was visited by his mother in March 2013.
He receives a visit from a professional visitor through glass wall. Meetings with health personnel and priests also happen through glass wall. Meetings with his own lawyers happen now through a barred wall. His correspondence is also under control.
On July 22, 2011, Breivik set off a car bomb that killed eight people outside the government headquarters in Oslo and then killed 69 others in a shooting rampage on Utoya Island, where young members of the Labor Party had gathered for their annual summer camp.
Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2012 at Oslo district court.
