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Denmark: Prosecutor reluctant to take television station to court

01 January 2006

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The Kurdish television station, ROJ TV, which broadcasts from Copenhagen, is in the searchlight of the Danish authorities, accused by the Turkish government of supporting terrorism. However the prosecutor has found that the material supplied to him by the police was insufficient to press charges. Regional prosecutor (statsadvokat), Mr Karsten Hjort, has asked the police to reinvestigate the accusations. The final decision to prosecute will fall to the Minister of Justice, Lene Espersen, since the justice department is in overall charge of Danish prosecutions.

Turkey and the USA allege that ROJ TV is financed by Kurdish organisations, for example, the PKK. Turkey has repeatedly asked the Danish authorities to prevent ROJ TV from broadcasting from Denmark. The PKK itself and its successor, KONGRA-GEL, appear on the EU terrorist list.

In November 2005 the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visited Copenhagen. During his stay he refused to take part in a press conference with his host, the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, because a reporter from ROJ TV was present. Fogh Rasmussen said that he found no grounds to single out ROJ TV to leave the press conference. The allegation against the television station was a question for the police to investigate.

The television station rejects the allegations that it is financed by the PKK. In any case, receiving funds from a group accused of terrorism is not defined as a crime in Denmark, whereas giving support to a group on the EU terrorist list might be an offence according to Danish law.

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