Denmark’s prime prosecuting authority says it’s searching for to have a former protection minister’s parliamentary immunity lifted so he could be charged with illegally disclosing “extremely categorized info.”
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s prime prosecuting authority mentioned Thursday that it could search to have a former protection minister’s parliamentary immunity lifted so he might be charged with illegally disclosing “extremely categorized info.”
The workplace of the director of public prosecutions mentioned it could contact the Folketing, Denmark’s parliament, relating to the immunity of Claus Hjort Frederiksen. He served because the nation’s protection minister from November 2016 to June 2019.
Particulars of the accusations in opposition to Hjort Frederiksen couldn’t be given due to “the particular nature of the case” that includes delicate info, the Danish Ministry of Justice mentioned in a press release.
Hjort Frederiksen, who’s a lawmaker in parliament and a senior member of Denmark’s opposition Liberals, faces as much as 12 years in jail if convicted of the unauthorized disclosure of extremely categorized info.
Danish media have speculated the case may be linked to allegations that Denmark’s international secret service helped the USA spy on European leaders, together with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In a December tv interview, Hjort Frederiksen spoke a couple of secret eavesdropping deal the USA and Denmark made within the late Nineteen Nineties.
“I have to danger a jail sentence. … I’ve knowledgeable them (Danish officers) that this settlement existed,” he mentioned.
The deal gave the Danish intelligence group plenty of helpful info” and the standing of “a trusted associate” of the U.S., Hjort Frederiksen mentioned.
Danish broadcaster DR has reported that the Danish Protection Intelligence Service, recognized in Denmark by its acronym FE, performed an inner investigation in 2014 into whether or not the U.S. Nationwide Safety Company had used its cooperation with the Danes to spy on Denmark and neighboring international locations.
The probe, codenamed Operation Dunhammer, concluded that the NSA eavesdropped on political leaders and officers in Germany, France, Sweden and Norway.
Hjort Frederiksen responded to prosecutors’ strikes Thursday by lashing out on the Social Democratic authorities.
“I sincerely hope that the general public and all members of the Folketing can now achieve perception into what it’s that the federal government believes that I’ve finished that’s thought of treason,” he informed Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.
Danish media even have speculated that the case might be related to the December arrest of Denmark’s former international intelligence chief. Lars Findsen was held in pre-trial custody on a preliminary cost of “disclosing extremely categorized info” earlier than an appeals courtroom ordered his launch in February by an appeals courtroom.
In Denmark, preliminary costs are one step in need of formal costs however enable authorities to maintain legal suspects in custody throughout an investigation.
Particulars of the allegations in opposition to Findsen, who was suspended in August 2020, are also unknown, and the case has been shrouded in secrecy.
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