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CRIME

Danish court gives 16-year-old five years in prison after terror conviction

The district court in Danish town Holbæk on Thursday sentenced a 16-year-old boy to five and a half years in prison after he was found guilty of trying to recruit a friend to a Neo-Nazi organisation.

Danish court gives 16-year-old five years in prison after terror conviction
A court in Holbæk has sentenced a 16-year-old to over five year in prison after he was found guilty of terror offences. File photo: Signe Goldmann/Ritzau Scanpix

The boy was found guilty on a number of charges under Denmark’s criminal paragraph 114, also known as the “terror paragraph”. He was found not guilty of other charges in the trial.

Because Denmark’s age of criminal responsibility is 15, he can be sentenced as an adult.

He was convicted of trying to recruit a friend to the far-right extremist group Feuerkrieg Division, but found not guilty of joining the group himself with the intention of committing an act of terror.

Although he is a member of the extremist group, the court did not find it proven that he joined with the intent of committing one or more acts of terror.

In addition to the attempt to recruit a friend, he was found guilty of distributing bomb and weapons manuals and other extremist material via the Telegram messaging app.

He also guided others on organisation within the group and assisted in writing a pamphlet about Feuerkrieg Division, the court found.

The five-and-a-half year sentence is longer than the five years argued for by the state prosecutor during the trial.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: What do the Danish words used in crime investigations mean?

“It says something about the seriousness of this case that he has got five and a half years in prison even though he did these things as a 15-year-old. I think it’s a clear verdict,” special prosecutor Rune Rydik said after the sentence was pronounced.

His defence lawyer Lasse Martin Dueholm argued for no more than two years in prison or “the court’s mildest sentence”. The defence, prosecution and court all cited the boy’s age as a mitigating factor.

He was arrested in April 2022 when police searched his bedroom at his parents’ home in western Zealand. Officers found a Feuerkrieg Division flag, a flag and armband with Nazi symbols and a copy of the manifest Mein Kampf, written by Adolf Hitler in the 1920s.

His mother was present for the verdict and sentencing at Holbæk District Court on Thursday. He denied guilt on all charges throughout the trial and has chosen to appeal the verdict, Dueholm confirmed. He hopes to be acquitted or given a milder sentence at a high court appeal, the lawyer said.

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CRIME

‘More Danes than ever’ victims of digital crime

Almost 190,000 people in Denmark were the victims of IT-related crime in 2023, according to new figures.

'More Danes than ever' victims of digital crime

The number, released by the Danish Crime Prevention Council (Det Kriminalpræventive Råd) represents a significant increase on the previous year’s figure of 150,000.

Denmark’s justice ministry, national police and the University of Copenhagen all work with the Crime Prevention Council in an annual study which tracks the figure through contact with victims.

It represents a trend which is unlikely to slow down in coming years, according to the Council’s director Erik Christensen.

“Technological advances mean that there are more and more doors through which the criminals can walk in relation to scamming us normal members of the public,” he told newswire Ritzau.

The emergence of AI could make it even more likely that people become subjected to digital fraud attempts, he said.

The study found that online payments and abuse of payment information were most common types of fraud defined as IT-related.

But “contact fraud”, in which scammers contact targets by email, telephone or online, is also on the rise.

The figure for that specific type of crime went from 13,000 in 2022 to 47,000 last year.

READ ALSO: Danish courts issue warning over SMS scam

“Our best advice is that if each of us takes good time when we get an email or SMS… and check whether it is [actually] from the Tax Agency, municipality or bank,” Christensen said.

He also advised asking a family member or trusted person for a second opinion before answering any email or SMS, if in doubt.

In the most common type of IT crime – online transactions – some 85,000 people in Denmark last year lost money to scams such as fake web shops or trades with private individuals.

Another form – which hit 64,000 people – involves purchase of a fake or counterfeit item.

Some 76,000 people were victims of having their bank card details stolen and misused, some 19,000 more than in 2022.

“We must move away from shaming people who get scammed because anyone can fall victim to it. Even when you look at these numbers, we know there are also unreported cases,” Christensen said.

The Council director stressed the importance of victims of online fraud not feeling shame over what had happened.

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