Photographer: John Thys / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: John Thys / AFP / Getty Images
The woman behind Denmark’s toughest immigration laws will be the country’s first politician to defend herself in an indictment in nearly three decades after her actions led to the illegal separation of young refugee couples.
Inger Stojberg, a former immigration minister who was recently forced to step down as deputy for Denmark’s main opposition party, will be tried after a majority in parliament declared support for his removal. With the next final vote largely a formality, this is the first time the chamber has agreed to continue a 1993 removal process.
Stojberg gained notoriety under the previous government after writing some of the EU’s strictest laws on immigration and asylum. She is probably best known outside Denmark for insisting that refugees hand over their valuables, including jewelery, when seeking asylum. But it was Stojberg’s harsh family reunification policies has drawn harsh criticism from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR other groups.
The indictment process will focus on Stojberg’s 2016 instructions that refugee couples be separated on arrival if the woman is under 18. The order ignored the requirements to carry out individual assessments and was considered illegal by the parliamentary ombudsman after a young Syrian couple complained. Stojberg was later found to have lied to the camera when he was called to explain his decision.
The indictment follows an investigation that identified Stojberg as the sole minister responsible for the alleged illegal investigation. Former Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has been acquitted of wrongdoing.
Stojberg argued that his decision to separate the couple was based on a desire to protect girls from being forced to marry before they became adults. In total, 23 couples were separated as a result of her order. The age differences between men and women ranged from 16 to one year.
In Denmark, an indictment can only be brought by a parliament or a monarch. Once the legislature agrees that such a process is appropriate, the case goes to the Kingdom of Denmark’s Impeachment Court, which is made up of judges and experts of the Supreme Court appointed by parliament.
The decision was a rare show of unity between the party lines, even Stojberg’s party, the Liberals, supporting the dismissal.
“I am a little disappointed that my own president has invited the rest of parliament to start an indictment against me,” Stojberg told reporters in parliament after the party’s decision. “It’s the biggest vote of no confidence I can get from my own president.”
The last politician charged was Erik Ninn-Hansen, a former justice minister who was found guilty in 1995. He received a four-month suspended prison sentence for his role in illegally preventing Tamil refugees from entering. enters Denmark. The scandal has overthrown the then Conservative government.
(Updates with comments in the penultimate paragraph)