The Copenhagen Municipal Court has ruled against police freezing DKK 327,000 in funds accrued by the Kurdish ROJ-TV television station, in a ruling that was immediately appealed.
The funds, which were in 10 accounts, were frozen in order to cover court costs and any eventual fines levied against the station whe its case comes to court. Prosecutor Jakob Buch-Jepsen claims that freezing the funds has no effect on the day-to-day running of the station.
While Defence Attorney Bjørn Elmquist accepted that the station continues to broadcast, he maintained that the move was an attempt to stop the station running – something he said contravened freedom of speech stipulations in §10 of the European Human Rights Convention.
A large number of Kurdish supporters were outside the Municipal Court building demonstrating in favour of ROJ-TV.
Today’s court session was preliminary. The date for the full court case against ROJ-TV, on allegations of supporting terrorism by broadcasting programmes and interviews that sympathise with the Kurdish PKK organisation, has not yet been set. The prosecution has called for 25 days of sessions.