The Danish prosecutor-general is charging a Kurdish TV station in Denmark under anti-terrorism laws.
Justice Minister Lars Barfoed (Cons) has decided to call for the indictment of the Denmark-based Roj-TV station for supporting terrorism, according to Prosecutor-General Jørgen Steen Sørensen in a news release.
Roj-TV and Mesopotamia Broadcast A/S METV are to be charged under Paragraph 114 of the Anti-terrorism Act which makes it an offence to further the activities of a person, group of people or association which either does or plans to commit acts of terrorism.
According to the prosecutor-general the indictment will include charges that the station has repeatedly broadcast programmes and interviews with PKK sympathisers and leaders as well as reports from fighting between Kurds and the Turkish authorities in order to ‘further the activities of the terrorist organisation PKK/Konga Gel’.
“In the view of the prosecuting authorities, the form and content of several of the programmes and reports broadcast on Roj-TV have the character of propaganda activities in support of PKK, and that this propaganda activity is designed to further PKK’s activities,” Sørensen writes.
Fogh coincidence
The news that charges are to be brought against Roj-TV come as NATO’s Secretary-General and former Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is on an official visit to Denmark.
During the election process for the post of secretary-general of NATO, Roj-TV was a central concern in Turkey’s acceptance of Fogh Rasmussen, which came following promises to Turkey that the television station would be investigated.
Police have in fact been investigating Roj-TV since July 2005 when the first allegations were made against the station. Steen Jørgensen apologises for the length of time investigations have taken, but says the issue has been a highly complicated one, primarily involving conditions abroad that have been time-consuming to investigate.
“Having said that, I would like to say that the prosecuting authority regrets the length of time it has taken,” Steen Jørgensen says.
It is not clear when the case will be heard in the Copenhagen Municipal Court.