Mass killer Breivik threatens hunger strike for better games and gym

LONDON — Convicted mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, the right-wing extremist who methodically hunted down and shot dozens of young people at a summer camp in Norway, has threatened to mount a hunger strike if his prison conditions don’t improve, including better video games.

Breivik, 35, sent a letter to media outlets saying he would starve himself to death if his demands weren’t met, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Among those demands is access to a sofa and a bigger gym.

Agence France-Presse said that, in a letter it received last week, Breivik described the present conditions of his confinement as “torture.” He enclosed a list of 12 demands he had sent to prison authorities in November, including easier communication with the outside world and a PlayStation 3 to replace the current PlayStation 2, because it offers more suitable games.

“Other inmates have access to adult games while I only have the right to play less interesting kids’ games. One example is ‘Rayman Revolution,’ a game aimed at 3-year-olds,” Breivik complained to prison officials.

“You’ve put me in hell ... and I won’t manage to survive that long,” he added. “You are killing me.”

Breivik is serving a renewable 21-year sentence for the deaths of 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage in July 2011 in Oslo and on the nearby island of Utoya. Many of his victims were teenagers attending a summer camp sponsored by a left-leaning political party that Breivik blames for destroying Norway through its more liberal views on immigration, particularly by Muslims.

In his letter to media outlets, he did not say exactly when he would begin refusing food to get what he wants. But he warned prison authorities that, if he carries out his hunger strike to the bitter end, dire repercussions will follow.

“If I die, all of Europe’s right-wing extremists will know exactly who it was that tortured me to death .... That could have consequences for certain individuals in the short term but also when Norway is once again ruled by a fascist regime in 13 to 40 years from now,” he wrote to prison officials.

henry.chu@latimes.com

Twitter: @HenryHChu