– I can state that these are newspaper articles and debates that have taken place in full public.
Today, the court will decide whether the head of the Danish Armed Forces’ intelligence service, Lars Findsen, will continue to be in custody. At the same time, former Minister of Defense Claus Hjort Frederiksen has put the evidence against him for the first time.
Findsen was arrested on December 8, charged with leaking state secrets. He has been in custody since. The custody expires on Friday, and the court must therefore decide whether he should be released, or whether there is a danger of evidence being lost.
After Findsen’s court hearing on January 10, he told journalists that he denies criminal guilt. He described the accusation as “insane”.
The charge against him falls under the severe serious provision on «treason» in the Danish penal code, which can be punished with up to years in prison. The paragraph has not been in use for 40 years.
Friday’s court hearing will take place behind double-closed doors, as did the previous court hearing. It is therefore not known what information Findsen is accused of having leaked, or to whom.
– A shock
On the same day, the former Minister of Defense in Denmark, Claus Hjort Frederiksen, for the first time set the material on which the charges against him are based. He was charged with divulging state secrets in mid-January.
In the post on Facebook, Frederiksen writes that he came home on Monday 20 December after having a massage.
– When I parked the car and turned off the engine, men jumped out of the car, showed the police signs and brought the charge.
Frederiksen describes the whole thing as a shock, and says he has never been charged with anything criminal in his life.
He writes further in the press release about the announcement, which will be out in January, triggered strong reactions among friends and colleagues.
But those who have thought that the former minister has sent secret NATO papers to foreign powers, must think again, according to Frederiksen:
– It is guarded as state secrets, even if it is not. I can state that these are newspaper articles and debates that have taken place in full public. There is absolutely nothing with blue glasses and a beard.
The latter term refers, according to the Danish Dictionary, to intelligence agents or persons who secretly collect information about others.
Risks 12 years in prison
Frederiksen, who was Minister of Defense in Denmark between 2016 and 2019 for the Liberal Party, does not specify which statements are in question in the post. However, he asks that the police do why they have charged him with leaking state secrets.
The newspaper Berlingske points out that in three interviews in recent years he has talked about the cooperation between the US National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Service – Denmark’s secret surveillance cooperation with the United States.
Frederiksen notes in the post that a member of the Folketing is protected by the immunity of the Constitution, which means that a majority in the Folketing must give consent to a possible indictment.
The Penal Code, for which the former Minister of Defense is charged, has a penalty of up to 12 years in prison.
He is with the fifth person who in a short time will be thought according to this section in Denmark.
On December 8, the head of the Armed Forces’ Intelligence Service in Denmark, Lars Findsen, and three other current or former employees of the country’s two intelligence services were also charged.
Of the accused, only Findsen is in custody.
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Must have leaked to the media
Over the years, few have had access to more secrets in Denmark, another 57-year-old Findsen, who shortly after the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001 was appointed leader of PET.
Seven years later, he became head of the Ministry of Defense, before taking over as head of FE in 2015.
Findsen has also had a permanent seat on the Danish government’s security committee for the past 20 years.
According to Danmarks Radio, the ongoing case concerns the leakage of classified information to the Danish media. It has not been confirmed which documents or media are in question.
Warned editors
Avisa the policy has previously shed light on the background of the charge against Findsen and the others.
In December, PET chief Finn Borch Andersen and acting FE chief Svend Larsen visited several Danish editors-in-chief and warned of the consequences of publishing classified information.
The weekend newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Martin Krasnik, said afterwards that three specific issues were mentioned during the meeting. One is about the Dane Ahmed Samsam, who has been convicted of terrorism in Spain, but who according to the newspaper Berlingske has been an agent for Danish intelligence.
Another case concerned Ekstra Bladet’s coverage of the situation for Danish women and children in Syrian prison camps, a case the newspaper on Friday was honored with the highly regarded Cavling Prize for.