The 44-year-old, who emailed out copies of an ultra-nationalist manifesto before his attacks setting out his theories, is also suing the state in a bid to lift restrictions on his correspondence with the outside world.

Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo and gunned down 69 others, most of them teenagers, on Utoeya island. He has been held in isolation ever since.

He is scheduled to start testifying at 2pm local time.

“I want to hear him directly, not via the media,” said Freddy Lie, the father of two daughters who were at Utoeya in 2011 – one was shot dead, the other was wounded but survived.

Lie was present on the first day of the legal proceedings yesterday and told Reuters he was planning to attend today.

Some journalists had asked judge Birgitte Kolrud to let them broadcast Breivik’s testimony. However, she ruled against that last week, saying there was a risk his statement could become a platform for his views rather than testimony about his jail conditions.

‘Same as before’

Today, a lawyer for the justice ministry said Breivik remained a threat; should he be moved to a normal unit there could be episodes of violence, on the part of other inmates, or from Breivik if he felt he was under threat.

In addition, Breivik still believes he was right to commit the 2011 attacks, Andreas Hjetland told the court.

“He sees himself as an ultra-nationalist. He is against multiculturalism. He sees himself as the leader of a movement…the leader of a project, and it is going as he wants to – except for the limit on his correspondence,” said the lawyer.

“And that is why he is bringing this case to the court.”

As Hjetland spoke, Breivik shook his head, slowly, in disagreement at some of the lawyer’s points.

Earlier, Breivik walked into the courtroom without making gestures or statements.

‘Locked world’

Breivik’s lawyers argue that Norway is breaching the European Convention on Human Rights, including sections saying no one should be subject to “torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

His isolation for more than a decade has left him in a “locked world” with only guards and other prison professionals whose duty is to maintain their distance, his lawyer Oeystein Storrvik told the court yesterday.

Also yesterday, the court heard the Norwegian police’s security service, PST, had assessed last year that Breivik continued to be a source of inspiration for far-right extremists worldwide.

The hearing is being held in the gymnasium of the high security Ringerike prison, in a room equipped with a climbing wall and two basketball hoops. The jail is where Breivik is held and is on the shore of Tyrifjorden lake, where Utoeya lies.

The case is scheduled to run until Friday. The judge’s verdict will be issued in the coming weeks. There is no jury.