Danish prosecution dismissed Wednesday two separate cases against a former defense minister and an ex-head of the country’s foreign intelligence service due to the inability to divulge classified information in court. Both were charged with leaking state secrets,
Last week, Denmark’s highest court ruled that the two cases which have been shrouded in secrecy, should be made public and sessions were to be closed off whenever sensitive information was presented.
In a statement, Denmark’s prosecution authority said that “in the interests of the state’s security, it is no longer safe to make highly classified information available in criminal proceedings.” Prosecutor Jakob Berger Nielsen said in the statement that the legal process would have forced “the disclosure of confidential information.”
Former defense minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen, 76, had in several interviews in 2020 and 2021, alleged that the Danish Defense Intelligence Service — which is responsible for overseas activities — had helped the NSA eavesdrop on leaders in Germany, France, Sweden and Norway, including former German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The alleged setup between the United States and Denmark allowed the NSA to obtain data by using the telephone numbers of politicians as search parameters. The military agency reportedly helped the NSA from 2012 to 2014.
Then-Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg called it “unacceptable” and said that spying on others “creates more mistrust than it creates collaboration.”
In the other case, spy chief Lars Findsen, 59, had been charged with leaking highly classified information to six different people, including two journalists.
