Already sentenced to two months in prison for having taken an illegal decision, the former Danish minister and champion of anti-immigration measures Inger Støjberg faces Tuesday, December 21 a very likely exclusion from Parliament. At the end of a rare trial before a special court responsible for judging ministers for their actions during their tenure, the pasionaria des “Danish values” was convicted last week of deliberately flouting her responsibilities and violating the European Convention on Human Rights by ordering the separation of couples seeking asylum when the woman was under 18.
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His exclusion is practically acquired at the end of the debates in Parliament, the Folketing, which the 48-year-old ex-minister must attend from 1:15 p.m. (12:15 GMT). Outside of the far right, most parties support the loss of her seat, including her former Liberal party, which she left in February. Since 1953, only four MPs have been excluded from the Folketing, popularized in the famous Danish series Borgen. “It is unimaginable that one could be in prison to serve a sentence while one is a deputy”Liberal Party chairman Karsten Lauritzen told reporters.
In 2016, 23 immigrant couples, most of whom had an insignificant age difference, were separated, without individual examination of their case, under the instruction given by Inger Støjberg. They had been placed in different accommodation centers during the examination of their asylum application. In seven of the cases, center staff reported suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide. By first sentencing a minister to prison, the special court ruled that the immigration ministry was not empowered to take action “In which no consideration was given individually to the persons concerned”, according to the judgment.
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The former minister, who was very popular when she was in power, defended herself by explaining that she had fought against forced marriages. “I think it’s a defeat for Danish values today, not just for me”Ms Støjberg said after leaving court. “I am being punished for trying to protect the girls. Frankly, something is wrong at all! “, she said on Facebook. She had in particular garnered the support of the leader of the French far right, Marine Le Pen, who saw in her conviction a sign that “Our Europe is losing its mind”.
Ms Støjberg, however, stressed that she respects the verdict which cannot be appealed and accepts her sentence “Without bending”. “My life goes on”, she added. On Friday, she chose to return to the Queen her medal of the Order of Dannebrog, the Danish equivalent of the Legion of Honor. Minister of Immigration from 2015 to 2019 in a center-right government supported by the anti-immigration populist right of the Danish People’s Party (DF), Ms Støjberg boasted of having passed more than 110 amendments restricting the rights of foreigners . During her tenure, she had taken many other controversial measures, including those of confiscating the property of migrants to finance their care in Denmark. Despite the return of the left to power two years ago, the Scandinavian country remains the holder of one of the toughest migration policies in Europe.
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It was only the third time since 1910 that a politician had been brought before the 26 judges of the Special Court of Justice in Denmark. This judges ministers who have committed embezzlement or negligence in the performance of their duties. The last precedent, which dates back to 1993, was already linked to immigration: in the so-called “Tamoulgate” case, a Conservative Minister of Justice was sentenced to four months in prison for having illegally frozen family reunification Tamil refugees in 1987-1988. In Denmark, people serving prison sentences of less than six months can be placed under electronic surveillance. Mrs Støjberg has still not indicated her choice.