Black metal musician and neo-nazi sympathiser Kristian “Varg” Vikernes was arrested in southwestern France on Tuesday after his wife bought four rifles, raising suspicions he could turn to violence, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
The police suspect the Norwegian national of planning a “massacre” and searched his house for weapons and explosives. His wife, a French national and a member of a shooting club, had recently legally purchased four rifles.
The anti-terrorist prosecutor has been put in charge of the investigation. In a statement, the French Ministry of the Interior deemed him “likely to prepare a large-scale act of terrorism.”
Vikernes, the man behind black metal project Burzum, had spent 21 years in prison – the maximum sentence in Norway – for the murder of Øystein Aarseth, known as Euronymous, the guitar player of black metal band Mayhem. Vikernes had also been convicted of arson attacks on four churches, he was freed in May 2009. He then moved to France with his wife and three children.
Vikernes, a Pagan and vocal neo-nazi sympathiser, reportedly received the manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right terrorist responsible for the July 2011 Oslo bombing and Utoeya Massacre which left 77 dead. Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in jail for terrorism on August 2012.
Breivik sending a copy of a manifesto setting out his ideology to Vikernes, an official at the prosecutor’s office said. “That was at the origin of the investigation … There were several suspicions that made the services fear he could possibly carry out a violent act,” the official said.
On his website, Vikernes discusses Breivik’s manifesto, but also criticises him for killing innocent Norwegians.
