Danish Kurds face new terror funding trial
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Published: 6 Nov, 2014 CET.
Updated: Thu 6 Nov 2014 09:46 CET
The acquittal of ten Kurdish men on charges of funding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has been appealed to the Eastern High Court.
Ten Kurdish men were acquitted by the Copenhagen District Court last month on charges that they funnelled money to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) via Roj TV, a Copenhagen-based Kurdish satellite channel that had its licence revoked last year for "glorifying terrorism". The district court ruled that the men could not be found guilty of funding the PKK, which is officially recognised as a terror organisation by the EU and the US, because they raised money for Roj TV before the channel was found guilty of promoting terrorism. But the prosecutor in the case, Lise-Lotte Nilas, has now said that she will appeal the decision. “We are appealing the criminal case to the High Court because after a thorough reading of the verdict we are in disagreement with the district court’s evaluation of the evidence,” Nilas said in a press release. The ten Kurds raised up to 140 million kroner ($23.8 million) for Roj TV, which for years was accused by Turkey of functioning as a mouthpiece for the PKK. Turkish security forces have waged a 30-year conflict with the PKK, whose battle for self-rule in the southeast of the country has left 40,000 dead.
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Ten Kurdish men were acquitted by the Copenhagen District Court last month on charges that they funnelled money to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) via Roj TV, a Copenhagen-based Kurdish satellite channel that had its licence revoked last year for "glorifying terrorism".
The district court ruled that the men could not be found guilty of funding the PKK, which is officially recognised as a terror organisation by the EU and the US, because they raised money for Roj TV before the channel was found guilty of promoting terrorism.
But the prosecutor in the case, Lise-Lotte Nilas, has now said that she will appeal the decision.
“We are appealing the criminal case to the High Court because after a thorough reading of the verdict we are in disagreement with the district court’s evaluation of the evidence,” Nilas said in a press release.
The ten Kurds raised up to 140 million kroner ($23.8 million) for Roj TV, which for years was accused by Turkey of functioning as a mouthpiece for the PKK. Turkish security forces have waged a 30-year conflict with the PKK, whose battle for self-rule in the southeast of the country has left 40,000 dead.
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