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IMMIGRATION

Danish parliament launches impeachment trial for ex-minister

Denmark's parliament on Tuesday referred a former minister to a rarely used special court over accusations that she broke the law when ordering the separation of asylum-seeking couples while in office.

Danish parliament launches impeachment trial for ex-minister
Inger Støjberg in parliament on Tuesday. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The accusations against Inger Støjberg relate to a decision she made in 2016 as the Minister for Immigration.

Støjberg ordered immigration authorities to separate married couples if one of them was under the age of 18 in order to combat child marriages.

But according to the preliminary indictment passed in parliament on Tuesday, the decision constituted a “violation of the European Convention on Human Rights”.

This is only the third time since 1910 that a Danish politician has had to go before the country's Court of Impeachment, which tries ministers for malfeasance or negligence in the performance of their duties.

The last case was in 1993, dubbed “Tamilgate”, and was over the illegal freezing of family reunification for Tamil refugees. 

The decisions in 1987 and 1988 by former Justice Minister Erik Ninn-Hansen landed him a four-month suspended prison sentence. 

In 2016, 23 migrant couples, most of whom had a small age difference between them, were separated without individual examination of their case following instructions from the minister.

Støjberg served as Minister for Immigration from 2015 to 2019 in a centre-right government propped up by the populist anti-immigration right Danish People's Party (DF).

She helped tighten Denmark's restrictive immigration policy and touted the adoption of more than 110 legal amendments restricting the rights of foreigners. 

As an aggravating circumstance, when questioned in the committee of enquiry, she allegedly gave “incorrect or misleading information”, the indictment noted. 

The member of parliament, who resigned her position as vice-president of the Liberal Party, has however stated that she is wrongly accused. 

“A large majority finds me guilty, but unlike you, I know that I did not order anything illegal,” she told parliament. 

“I intervened and did what I maintain was the only politically and humanely right thing to do,” she said. 

While a large majority of parliament supported the indictment, Støjberg still has supporters among some members of her party, as well as former prime minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and the two far-right parties DF and Nye Borgerlige (New Right).

The Court of Impeachment, consisting of up to 15 Supreme Court judges and a matching number of parliamentarians designated by parliament is expected to convene on the matter after the summer.

READ ALSO: Denmark’s former immigration minister to face impeachment trial

 

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CRIME

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Germany said Tuesday it was considering allowing deportations to Afghanistan, after an asylum seeker from the country injured five and killed a police officer in a knife attack.

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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