VARG VIKERNES' Mother Says Her Son Is Being Treated Unfairly By Justice Officials

Norway's Dagbladet newspaper has published a letter from the mother of Varg Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnackh) the former BURZUM mastermind who is currently serving a Norwegian prison term for the August 1993 murder of MAYHEM guitarist Oystein Aarseth (a.k.a. Euronymous) in which she argues that her son is being unfairly treated by the justice officials who recently denied his parole application for the second time. An excerpt from her letter follows.

"We the family are now powerless witnesses to the difficult situation Varg is in. A difficult situation filled with hate and obstructiveness [on the part of the] justice officials.

"It is with great concern that we note the lack of cooperation between the KSF (the justice officials at both the regional and central level) and the prison. Twice now already Varg's application for parole has been denied despite recommendations for release from the Trondheim Prison in 2006 and Troms Prison in 2008. Even the PST (Norwegian security service) is now recommending Varg's release.

"When Varg's application was recently denied, the management at the Troms Prison was stunned and advised him to re-apply immediately, which he has since done.

"It appears to us that the case workers at the Justice Ministry have made the decision that Varg should not be released and are therefore constantly seeking out new arguments to use in an effort to deny his parole application. Despite the fact that Varg has been in an open prison in Troms for almost a year and has participated in various social activities and has been on furlough from Troms to his home and has traveled by taxi, plane, train, ferry and car without any problems, they still believe that he is not able to take care of himself. This is absolutely absurd! Varg is managing exceptionally well and even I have to admit that it's completely incredible that he is responding to life outside the walls as well as he is after spending 15 years in prison."

Vikernes who is married, with one daughter (aged 15) and a son (aged nine months) is serving a 21-year sentence, the maximum that Norwegian law allows, for murder and setting fire to three churches in 1993.

In denying his parole, the Justice Ministry pointed to the fact that Vikernes escaped from prison in 2003 and that he has ties to neo-Nazi groups.

Photo courtesy of Burzum.org:

Norwegian TV report on Varg Vikernes (with a short interview) shot sometimes during the 1990s: