Norwegian man living in Budapest sentenced to 10 years for threatening massacre greater than Breivik’s
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The Metropolitan Court of Budapest has sentenced a 46-year-old Norwegian man to ten years in prison for threatening a massacre in Hungary that he claimed would surpass the atrocities committed by Anders Behring Breivik in 2011. The man was also found guilty of possessing child pornography. The ruling is not final, as both the defendant and his lawyer have appealed.
From “dark humour” to a credible threat
The defendant, who does not speak Hungarian, uploaded videos to a sharing platform in which he openly talked about committing mass killings. He declared his intention to outdo Breivik, who murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011.
In court, he argued that his videos were merely examples of “creative dark humour” and an exercise of free speech, 24.hu reports. However, the presiding judge rejected this defence, stating that his “suggestive and aggressive style,” coupled with repeated calls for murder, made the threats appear real and serious. According to the court, the videos were capable of inciting fear among the public and therefore could not be regarded as jokes or satire.
Child pornography charges
According to HVG, alongside the terror threat charges, investigators also found pornographic recordings of children under the age of 12 on the man’s mobile phones. The defendant claimed that hackers had placed the material on his devices, but this possibility was ruled out during the proceedings.