Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Stop and search zones set up in Copenhagen after Christmas stabbings, Denmark's largest tax fraud case and other news from Denmark on Friday.
Police in Copenhagen set up stop and search zones after stabbings
After several stabbings during the Christmas holiday period, the police in Copenhagen have decided to set up visitation zones in parts of Nørrebro and the Nordvest quarter in Copenhagen, according to a new press release.
Within visitation zones, police can stop people and check their possessions without meeting the usual requirements to do so.
The visitation zones will stay in force from December 29th at 6:00pm until January 5th at 6:00pm, Danish newswire Ritzau reports.
"Unfortunately, we have seen five stabbings in a relatively limited area since Christmas Eve and have also caught a number of people with knives in the same area. We can't, and we won't accept that. We have therefore established visitation zones until the Thursday after New Year," police inspector Tommy Laursen noted in the press release.
The visitation zone is expected to prevent new incidents, the police inspector said.
The police have previously announced that they would increase street presence because of the five stabbings.
Dubai court authorises jailed Brit's fraud extradition
A Dubai court Thursday authorised the extradition of a British national wanted over an alleged 1.7 billion euro tax fraud in Denmark, authorities said, ahead of a further ruling by a higher court.
Hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah was arrested in Dubai in June, but the emirate's Court of Appeal in September rejected an extradition request by Denmark, the AFP writes.
The Court of Appeal overturned that decision on Thursday, according to the media office of Dubai's government.
"The Dubai Court of Appeal has issued a ruling to extradite Sanjay Shah, a British citizen, to Denmark... for alleged fraud and money laundering," it said in a statement.
Horizons & Co, a firm representing Shah, noted that "today's decision confirms that Mr Shah can be extradited from the UAE".
Shah will not be extradited immediately.
"We now have 30 days in which to appeal today's judgement in the Court of Cassation, the highest Court in the UAE," said Horizons & Co's Managing Partner Ali Al Zarooni.
Solar and wind power covered two thirds of Danish electricity consumption last year
In 2022, electricity production from wind and solar accounted for 59.3 percent of total Danish electricity consumption.
That is a record high, Energinet wrote in a press release on Friday.
Energinet is a state-owned company that owns and develops the electricity and gas network in Denmark.
That is an increase of 11.9 percentage points from 47.4 per cent in 2021. If one goes even further back, it is a doubling from 30 percent in 2012, Ritzau reports.
It is important to note that 2022 has been a year with a lot of wind, meaning favourable conditions for wind power generation.
Number of rape convictions in Denmark on the rise
In 2022, significantly more people have been convicted of rape compared to the previous year, according to the figures from the Public Prosecutor's Office, DR reports.
From January 1st to December 3rd, 2022, 143 people were convicted of rape. The year before, the figure amounted to 119, while 117 and 104 people were convicted of rape in 2020 and 2019, respectively.
According to Gyrithe Trautner Ulrich, deputy public prosecutor at the State Attorney's Office and a member of the Ministry of Justice's expert panel in criminal rape cases, two reasons, in particular, explain the development; better policing and the law on consent.
"The cases are now investigated more thoroughly and better than before," she stated.
According to Trautner Ulrich, the development is due, among other things, to the fact that the perception of rape in Denmark and how "real rape victims" react has changed in recent years.
In the past, many women were turned away at the counter by the police, Trautner Ulrich noted.
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Police in Copenhagen set up stop and search zones after stabbings
After several stabbings during the Christmas holiday period, the police in Copenhagen have decided to set up visitation zones in parts of Nørrebro and the Nordvest quarter in Copenhagen, according to a new press release.
Within visitation zones, police can stop people and check their possessions without meeting the usual requirements to do so.
The visitation zones will stay in force from December 29th at 6:00pm until January 5th at 6:00pm, Danish newswire Ritzau reports.
"Unfortunately, we have seen five stabbings in a relatively limited area since Christmas Eve and have also caught a number of people with knives in the same area. We can't, and we won't accept that. We have therefore established visitation zones until the Thursday after New Year," police inspector Tommy Laursen noted in the press release.
The visitation zone is expected to prevent new incidents, the police inspector said.
The police have previously announced that they would increase street presence because of the five stabbings.
Dubai court authorises jailed Brit's fraud extradition
A Dubai court Thursday authorised the extradition of a British national wanted over an alleged 1.7 billion euro tax fraud in Denmark, authorities said, ahead of a further ruling by a higher court.
Hedge fund trader Sanjay Shah was arrested in Dubai in June, but the emirate's Court of Appeal in September rejected an extradition request by Denmark, the AFP writes.
The Court of Appeal overturned that decision on Thursday, according to the media office of Dubai's government.
"The Dubai Court of Appeal has issued a ruling to extradite Sanjay Shah, a British citizen, to Denmark... for alleged fraud and money laundering," it said in a statement.
Horizons & Co, a firm representing Shah, noted that "today's decision confirms that Mr Shah can be extradited from the UAE".
Shah will not be extradited immediately.
"We now have 30 days in which to appeal today's judgement in the Court of Cassation, the highest Court in the UAE," said Horizons & Co's Managing Partner Ali Al Zarooni.
Solar and wind power covered two thirds of Danish electricity consumption last year
In 2022, electricity production from wind and solar accounted for 59.3 percent of total Danish electricity consumption.
That is a record high, Energinet wrote in a press release on Friday.
Energinet is a state-owned company that owns and develops the electricity and gas network in Denmark.
That is an increase of 11.9 percentage points from 47.4 per cent in 2021. If one goes even further back, it is a doubling from 30 percent in 2012, Ritzau reports.
It is important to note that 2022 has been a year with a lot of wind, meaning favourable conditions for wind power generation.
Number of rape convictions in Denmark on the rise
In 2022, significantly more people have been convicted of rape compared to the previous year, according to the figures from the Public Prosecutor's Office, DR reports.
From January 1st to December 3rd, 2022, 143 people were convicted of rape. The year before, the figure amounted to 119, while 117 and 104 people were convicted of rape in 2020 and 2019, respectively.
According to Gyrithe Trautner Ulrich, deputy public prosecutor at the State Attorney's Office and a member of the Ministry of Justice's expert panel in criminal rape cases, two reasons, in particular, explain the development; better policing and the law on consent.
"The cases are now investigated more thoroughly and better than before," she stated.
According to Trautner Ulrich, the development is due, among other things, to the fact that the perception of rape in Denmark and how "real rape victims" react has changed in recent years.
In the past, many women were turned away at the counter by the police, Trautner Ulrich noted.
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