New Zealand’s Court of Appeal confirmed on Tuesday that gunman Brendon Tarrant had appealed last week. The court said a hearing date has not yet been set. Tarrant, a white supremacist, shot worshipers at two Christchurch mosques during Friday prayers in March 2019. He left dozens of others with serious injuries in the attack, which he broadcast live on Facebook. The following year, Tarrant pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the maximum sentence available in New Zealand. Details of his appeal were not immediately available from the court. But in earlier court documents, Tarrant, 32, claimed he was subjected to “inhuman or degrading treatment” while held for months in solitary confinement after the shooting, preventing a fair trial. He said he only pleaded guilty under duress. Tarrant fired one of his lawyers in 2021, and it was not immediately clear if another lawyer was representing him in his appeal or if he was representing himself. Temel Atacocugu, who survived after being shot nine times during the Al Noor mosque attack, told Stuff news agency that the gunman was playing games and seeking attention by filing the appeal. “I would like to tell him, ‘Grow up, be a man and die quietly in prison, because that’s what you deserve,’” Atacocugu said. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she had long pledged not to publicly name the terrorist. “It is a story that should not be told and a name that should not be repeated and I will apply the same rule in commenting on his efforts to rekindle people,” Ardern said. “We must give him nothing.” The attacks prompted New Zealand to quickly pass new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons. In a subsequent buyback plan, gun owners turned over more than 50,000 guns to police. The attacks also caused global changes in social media as tech companies scrambled to prevent or quickly stop live streaming of future attacks.
