Breivik sympathiser arrested in France on terror charges

A Norwegian neo-Nazi sympathiser of mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has been arrested on suspicion of planning "a large terrorist act", authorities in France said.

The Paris prosecutor’s office identified the suspect as Varg Vikernes. The interior ministry said the suspect was arrested at his house in rural central France.

Vikernes’ French wife, Marie Cachet, was also arrested, the prosecutor’s office said.

She had recently acquired four rifles and investigators are looking into how the firearms were acquired and what they were for.

Vikernes (40) was known in Norwegian black metal circles in the early 1990s under the stage name Count Grishnackh. He played in various black metal bands including Mayhem.

In 1994 he was sentenced to 21 years in prison for the manslaughter of Mayhem band member Oystein Aarseth and arson attacks against three churches. He was released from prison in 2009 after serving 16 years.

After being released from prison he has continued to record music under the name Burzum.

Breivik bombed government buildings in Oslo and carried out a mass shooting at a youth camp on the island of Utoya in July 2011, killing 77 people, mostly teenagers.

He was convicted of mass murder and terrorism in August last year.

It is not clear whether Vikernes had a specific plan but police said “violent” internet postings were proof that he posed a potential threat.

French authorities described Vikernes as a “sympathiser” of Breivik and his manifesto accusing Muslims of destroying European society. Vilkernes acknowledged reading the manifesto on his blog, but appears to distance himself from Breivik and at one point refers to him as a “nutcase”.

Agencies