Five Danes charged with terrorism
First ethnic Danes charged under anti-terror laws are suspected of being behind a string of arson attacks
Damage at a police school in Brøndbyøster caused by one of the arson attacks that the men are charged with
Five men have been charged under anti-terrorism laws for planning and participating in arson attacks in the Copenhagen area between 2010 and 2011.
According to a press release from the public prosecutor, Rigsadvokaten, the men are being charged with attempting to “seriously frighten a population” and “destablisise or destroy a country’s fundamental political, constitutional, economic or societal structures”.
As a result, the Justice Ministry has agreed to the public prosecutor’s demand to charge the five men under the anti-terror paragraph §114.
The five men between the ages of 21 and 24 are the first ethnic Danes to be charged using the anti-terrorism legislation, the national media reports.
Targets of the attack included the headquarters of Nestlé, the headquarters of Nordea bank, Rigspolitiet, the Danish domestic intelligence agency (PET) and the Greek embassy.
The men had also planned to attack the Justice Ministry, Immigration Ministry and parliament but four of them were caught when they attempted to set fire to the police school in Brøndby using petrol and flares – the fifth was arrested the following May.
According to tabloid BT, the young men are far-left political extremists whose 23-year-old leader is the son of a policeman.
Leur presse (Peter Stanners, cphpost.dk, 20 avril 2012)