[Dissent-fr-info] Legal Rights Denmark

Tue Nov 24 22:51:56 GMT 2009

  Legal Rights Denmark

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*English bustcard*

Intro
The following is a brief walkthrough of your basic legal rights in
Denmark. Also included are a few pieces of advice, which can come in
handy if you are confronted by the Danish police and judicial system.

On your person
Being in posession of ammunition shelters (even empty ones), gas sprays,
slingshots, clubs or drugs (including hashish) are considered a crime in
Denmark. The only kind of knife it is legal to bear in Denmark is a
folding knife with a blade no longer than 7 cm, which cannot be opened
with one hand and cannot be locked in open position. Police have also
arrested people for carrying a screwdriver. Violation of the weapon law
results in very large fines or worse.

The mask prohibition
It is illegal to use any form of mask at demonstrations in Denmark.
Furthermore, the law has been formulated in such a way that you can get
arrested for “attempting to break the prohibition”. This means that you
can get arrested for carrying a scarf in your pocket. You don’t have to
actually attend a demonstration to get arrested, it is enough that the
police “estimate” that you’re on your way to one. Normally the cops only
enforce the prohibition at demonstrations though.

When stopped by the cops
You are only obliged to tell the police your full name, nationality,
address and date of birth. Nothing more! If in doubt of your identity
the cops have the right to take you in for further questioning.

Body search
The cops are only allowed to perform a body search on you if they have a
validated suspicion (and they usually do) that you possess something
illegal (drugs, weapons).
The head of the Copenhagen police department have recently made zones in
the inner city and in Christiania where the police are allowed to search
everybody without giving a reason for it. These zones can be made from
one day to the next, and it is therefore impossible to say exactly were
they are.
You have the “right” to be body searched by a police officer of your own
gender, when the police present determents that it’s possible…

The arrest
If you get arrested then you still only have to give the cops your name,
address, nationality and date of birth, that’s it. You have the right to
know the reason for your arrest, so demand that they tell you. You will
most likely be taken to a police station and locked in a detention cell.
You have the right to a phone call, but the cops will usually deny you
this or offer to make the call for you. You also have the right to
medical attention if you are hurt or need medicine. The cops will want
to interview you, but do NOT tell them anything, remember that they’re
only trying to gather evidence against you and maybe your friends. You
have the right to remain silent, use it.
You are not obliged to acknowledge the charges against you, and you
don’t have to sign anything.
After 24 hours (72 hours for foreigners), you must be put in front of a
judge or set free. The Judge can decide to sentence you to stay in
custody for min. 1 and max. 4 weeks, uphold the arrest for 72 hours or
let you free.
If you’re under 18 the police are obliged to take contact to your
parents and have a person from the social authorities present at the
interview. This person is NOT your friend, he or she will most likely
tell you to answer the cops’ questions. Don’t do it. If you’re under 15
the cops can detain you, “if no other way is possible” in a detention
cell, normally not for more than 6 hours, but under “special
circumstances” they can keep you for 24 hours.
It cannot be said too many times; never talk to cops, never make a
statement, you can only make things worse for yourself and your friends.

Preventive arrest
The cops can make preventive arrests if they estimate that you are a
potential troublemaker. This means that they can arrest you BEFORE you
have done anything illegal. They can keep you for up to 6 hours, longer
if they consider it necessary.

Unlawful arrest
If they police arrest you and for one reason or another drop the charges
against you or you are found not guilty in court, you have the right to
get compensation for unlawful arrest. Always demand to get this
compensation, the amount varies depending on how long you were detained
but it’s always worth making an effort to get the police to pay up.

Lawyers
It’s always a good idea to have the names of one or more good lawyers in
your possession. Ask around for names when you’re in a new place.
You have the right to have a lawyer present at the police interview, but
as long as you don’t say anything, you won’t need one. If you have the
impression that the police will put you in front of a judge, then insist
on having the name of the lawyer you wish to defend you, written in the
police report. If the police “are not able to contact” the lawyer you
wish to defend you, you will be assigned a lawyer by the state for the
preliminary hearing. If this is the case, you can always change your
lawyer in time for the next hearing. To be able to pick your own lawyer
makes a big difference, maybe not so much in the preliminary hearing;
because the police prosecutors usually get what they want (latest
statistics say 9 out of 10 times). But it is very important to have a
decent lawyer, especially at the following court dates.

Expenses
If you lose a case, you’ll have to pay all expenses, including your own
lawyers fee. If you win, the state pays all expenses.

Preliminary Hearing
The preliminary hearing will be held in the police-district where you
were arrested. You will be put before a judge, and you still have the
right to remain silent. It is almost always the best idea to use this
right, because you have all the odds against you at the preliminary
hearing (no witnesses to verify your story, no documentation etc). The
police prosecutor on the other hand, will have police reports and
possibly other hard evidence against you. If your lawyer advises you to
break the silence, consider the situation carefully. Anything you say
will be used against you at later court hearings. If you have the least
bit of mistrust towards the lawyer you have been appointed, don’t say
anything. In virtually all preliminary hearings the police prosecutor
gets their will, no matter if you talk or not. If you’re sentenced to
stay in jail the judge will ask you if you wish to appeal the decision
to a higher court. It’s always best to say no to that question, but tell
the judge to make a note that you want the right to appeal to the higher
court at any time before your next hearing. After having talked to your
lawyer and the two of you together have considered your chances of
getting a positive response from the appeal you can decide if you wish
to do so. The reason for considering the appeal carefully is that unless
you have VERY good reasons the higher court will nearly always agree
with the judge you stood before at the preliminary hearing and at the
next hearing this judge will use the decision of the higher court to
keep you in prison.

Custody
If you are sentenced to remain in custody, you will be imprisoned for at
least 1 and maximum 4 weeks before you again will be put in front of a
judge. You run the risk of getting letter and visit control, which means
visits from the outside will be under surveillance and that the cops
will read all your mail (in and out going) to see if they can find
something that can incriminate you even further. This also means that it
will take some time, 5 days or more, for letters to get through to you.
Even if you don’t have letter control, always assume that the cops are
reading your mail. You usually have the right to make a single phone
call a week. This phone call is sometimes monitored by the prison
guards, who’ll call the police if they think you’re saying things that
can be of interest in your case.
The judge can, under certain circumstances, decide to put you in total
isolation, which means you don’t even have contact with other prisoners.
This is the hardest form of imprisonment.

Prison
If you are sentenced to remain in custody it is extremely important that
you don’t loose hope. Remember there are friends on the outside, waiting
for you and working for your release. The system uses isolation, boredom
and uncertainty to break you. So stay cool and focused, even though it’s
not an easy task. Try to do as much as you can to kill the time in a
meaningful way. Ask to be taken to the library, write letters, ask to be
allowed to go to the workout room, sign up for school, sign up for gym
class. Ask the guards and the other prisoners what your possibilities
are. Even things that on the outside would be a terrible waste of life,
like going to the prison church or talking to a priest, can be a halfway
meaningful thing when you are locked up. Especially since the teachers
and priests are not guards. If you don’t have visit and letter control,
ask the guards to give you visiting applications and then send them to
your friends as fast as possible, so they can apply for a visit. The
process is also long and bureaucratic, but a visit from the outside is
something that is worth fighting for. If you have visit and letter
control you have to apply to the police for visits to be allowed.
Try to get a daily routine on the inside, the prison system is a machine
and it wants you to be institutionalized as fast as possible. Don’t fall
into what seems to be the “easy” path through the prison system. People
who conform to the prison way of life are the ones that have the hardest
time to function in real life when they get out. Make your own routines;
stay up all night sometimes, communicate with the prisoners in the
nearby cells, find the loopholes in the prison rules and use them,
insist (in a friendly way if necessary) that the guards speak to you and
treat you with respect (not that it always has any effect, but at least
you’ve tried).
Talk to other prisoners, most are not as unfriendly as they might seem,
after all, you have a common adversary in the guards and the police.
What you must never do is to take loans from other prisoners and
especially those who push drugs. Debth in the prison system quickly gets
doubled and doubled again, until you’re up to your neck in shit.

House raid
If you’re charged with a crime, imprisoned or just under suspicion in a
case, which the cops estimate has involved some sort of planning; it’s
likely that your home address will be raided.
As roommate or resident of an address which is the same as a
suspect/prisoner, it is important to be aware of the risk of the cops
showing up with a search warrant. If they are not let in, they can
legally break down your door.
You should always demand to see the search warrant BEFORE you let cops
inside your home. You have to be aware though, that they under certain
circumstances can perform a house raid without a warrant and then go to
a judge within the next 24 hours and obtain a warrant “with retroactive
effect”. If this happens you should meet up in court with a lawyer and
protest to the raid.
You have the right to be present while the cops perform the search. You
also have the right to an impartial witness (this could be a neighbor).
It is important that you use this right, as it can help to minimize the
amount of vandalism the cops will inevitably exercise on your home.

Deportation
The Danish authorities are very keen on shipping non-Danish citizens out
of the country, even for minor offences. They have been known on several
occasions to arrest people, give them a warning for some ridicules
misdemeanor and then deport them. They can do this because of Denmark’s
extremely harsh and rightwing immigration laws. If you get deported you
will usually not be allowed to enter the country again for a period of
1-5 years. The cops have recently started to demand that people arrested
for minor offences (like shoplifting or traffic violations) pay their
fines before they can get released.

Keep your eyes open
At big demonstrations and actions it is a good idea to keep an eye on
your friends and have them to keep an eye on you. Then you will be able
to help each other if potentially dangerous situations arise. It’s also
easier to find out later who is arrested, and who are maybe just lost in
the crowd.

Mobile phones
Be aware that if you’re arrested with your phone on you, the police will
have easy access to all your contacts, phone calls and sms activity
you’ve had prior to your arrest. Understand that your whereabouts on any
given time can be determined by which phone mast you’re using when
you´re operating your phone. This is pretty accurate (depending how many
masts are in the area); from a few hundred meters to a dozen or less.
The information is stored by the phone companies for (at least) a year,
so the police can map where you’ve been a year back if they need to.
Another thing to be aware of is that the police prosecutor sometimes use
as an excuse for imprisonment that the police “need time” to investigate
your phone activities.

Computers
Some of your internet activities in DK are stored for one year. This
means that homepages and servers you visit to some extent can be mapped.
Also recipients of emails you send and receive can be tracked, at least
to the server they’ve sent to and from. If your home is raided you can
be sure that your computer will be confiscated. Remember that even
deleted files and programs can be recovered from a hard disk by people
who know what they are doing.

Last Words
All of the above is not written to scare you, on the contrary: knowing
what you’re up against can only make you stronger and better capable to
deal with cops and judicial system. Yes, you have some rights. They are
supposed to be respected by the police, courts and prison system, more
than often they are not. Police use excessive violence, charge you with
crimes you haven’t committed and lie in court. Judges will convict you,
not by the evidence against you, but by prior felonies, the way you look
and who your friends are. Sometimes prison officials will try to make a
near hopeless situation even more desperate. Don’t give in to their terror.
Remember that they’re breaking their own rules to make their shitty
system work. It’s their justice, not ours.

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