Neo-Nazi musician Vikernes freed after arrest in France
A Norwegian neo-Nazi musician has
been released two days after he was
arrested in central France on
suspicion of "preparing a major
terrorist act".
Kristian Vikernes was arrested after his
wife bought four rifles.
Officials say questioning of the suspect
did not bring to light any evidence of a
terrorist plot.
Vikernes had in the past received a copy
of a manifesto from right-wing extremist
Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77
people in Norway in 2011.
Officials say Vikernes will have to answer
charges of incitement to racial hatred
over the content of some of his writings
on the internet, but no charges relating
to terrorism have been filed.
Kristian "Varg" Vikernes was arrested
along with his French wife on Tuesday in
Correze, a region in central France.
She was released from custody on
Wednesday evening.
Officials say she had a legal firearms
permit when she bought the four rifles.
Racist ideology
Interior Minister Manuel Valls had said
that even though Vikernes was not
thought to have a specific target in mind,
the arrest was justified by the need to
"act before and not after" with regard to
terrorism.
An official at the Paris prosecutor's
office said there were "several
indications that made the services fear
he could possibly carry out a violent
act".
The official said Breivik had sent a copy
of a manifesto setting out his ideology to
Vikernes, who is also a convicted
murderer.
Breivik planted a bomb in central Oslo
and went on a shooting spree on the
nearby island of Utoeya in July 2011. He
was imprisoned for the maximum 21-
year term last year.
Vikernes, a black-metal musician and
writer known as Varg, was convicted in
1994 of stabbing a man to death in Oslo
and burning down several churches.
He was released in 2009 and moved to
France with his wife and three children.
Since then he has continued releasing
music and writing.
Through his writings he promotes what
he calls "Odalism", an ideology based on
the idea that White Europeans should re-
adopt "native European values".
It includes racism, anti-Semitism and
elements of ethnic European paganism.
