Former Danish Minister of Defense is “protected” by the Folketing
On Thursday, it became clear that there is no majority in the Danish Parliament to lift the immunity of former Minister of Defense Claus Hjort Frederiksen (V).
The Danish Attorney General has asked the Ministry of Justice to prosecute Frederiksen for leaking state secrets. But since he has been elected to the Folketing, he can not be prosecuted unless a majority of the National Assembly votes to deprive him of parliamentary immunity.
Frederiksen is charged with violation of the Danish Penal Code’s section on unauthorized disclosure of highly classified information, also known as treason.
No transparency
A challenge in the case has been that the members of parliament have not been given full insight into what the accusations against Frederiksen are about. Only the party leaders have received information.
The Conservatives were among the parties that voted against lifting the immunity, and thus helped to form the majority. Leader Søren Pape Poulsen has the answer to the question, which has been a dilemma.
– On the one hand, there is talk that one can potentially tell state secrets with impunity and without consequences. On the other hand, there is talk that the members of the Folketing must know what they are voting on, he says the policy.
Confidentiality
Frederiksen was Minister of Defense between 2016 and 2019. Until the end of August 2020, he was chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for the Intelligence Services. The members here are subject to the highest degree of confidentiality.
It is speculated that the background for the accusation is related to information Frederiksen shared when he visited the TV program “Lippert” in 2020. He visited the program after there had been several cases about possible matters worthy of criticism in the Armed Forces Intelligence Service (FE).
During the TV program, he stated that in the 90s a secret agreement was entered into between Denmark’s then Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and US President Bill Clinton.
The agreement was that the US National Security Agency (NSA) could eavesdrop on Danish internet cables to spy on other countries and their citizens, according to Danish TV2.
Several charged
Fredriksen was the fifth who in a short time was charged with treason in Denmark. In December last year, the head of FE in Denmark, Lars Findsen, and three other current or former employees of the country’s two intelligence services were also charged.
On the other hand, it is not known whether the charge against Frederiksen is related to the charge in December. The Danish Ministry of Defense has refrained from commenting on the accusation against the former Minister of Defense.
Fredriksen is a member of the Danish Liberal Party and has been a member of the Danish Parliament since 2007.