He killed 51 people worshipping at a Mosque in Christchurch in New Zealand during March 2019. The terrorist was apprehended by two policemen as he was preparing to kill more people. In court he pleaded guilty. There was an abundance of evidence. He had a manifesto online. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. A psychologist and a psychiatrist who had assessed the terrorist before his sentencing in August 2020 concluded that he was fit to plea at that time.
Now the 35-year-old Australian claims he pleaded guilty only because he was irrational due to the solitary nature of his prison conditions, and he seeks to overturn his convictions and sentence. The terrorist’s argument is that he was incapable of making a rational decision at the time because of the torturous and inhumane prison conditions.
I find it intriguing to compare the thinking of Christchurch terrorist with the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik who in July 22, 2011 killed 77 persons, many of them children and youths. The Christchurch terrorist is using similar legal tactics as Anders Breivik who argues that his isolation in in prison is “inhumane”. Breivik has sued the Norwegian state, arguing that his prolonged isolation in prison violated his human rights under the European Convention. In February 2024, the Oslo District Court ruled against him. The court stated his conditions were not inhumane, noting he had good physical facilities, including a kitchen, fitness room, and a TV with an Xbox. My guess is that the Christchurch terrorist won’t get far with his pleas to the NZ courts, but I am willing to bet that he keeps on reading about Norway’s Anders Breivik and he follows some of the thought patterns and actions of that killer.
Breivik has used lawsuits and public hearings as a platform for his ideas. His human rights cases, starting in 2016 and through 2024, keep him in the public eye and force the state to justify its treatment of him. This aligns with his 2011 manifesto that his trial would offer “a stage to the world”. Breivik has also changed his legal name twice: first to Fjotolf Hansen in 2017, and then in 2025 to a Norse-sounding name. These changes are seen as part of his ongoing self-mythologizing.
The Christchurch terrorist has his own manifesto. He would like to use it in court, so that we would hear more about it on radio, TV, print and the Internet. For want of a more accurate description it is partly concerned with the media jargon of “replacement theory”, “migrants” and “white supremacy.”
This guy does not care about what the judge thinks. He wants you and me to read and think and talk about his thoughts and those of Anders Breivik. This Christchurch terrorist has an foreign mentor.
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