Former immigration minister has been sentenced to 60 days in jail for separating underage asylum-seeking {couples}.
Denmark’s former immigration minister has been sentenced to 2 months in jail after a particular court docket discovered her responsible of illegally separating a number of {couples} of asylum seekers the place the feminine member was a minor.
“Inger Stojberg is discovered responsible of a deliberate violation of the Ministerial Accountability Act,” Denmark’s Court docket of Impeachment of the Realm mentioned in a press release on Monday, including that the punishment had been set at 60 days in jail.
Stojberg was accused of violating the European Conference on Human Rights by ordering the separation of asylum-seeking {couples}, a few of whom had kids, when the feminine member was underneath the age of 18.
The previous minister had pleaded not responsible within the distinctive trial that started in September.
Whereas the sentence was not suspended, these in Denmark serving lower than six months are eligible for digital monitoring as an alternative, that means Stojberg is unlikely to spend any time in jail.
In 2016, 23 {couples}, most of whom had a small age distinction, had been separated with out particular person examination of their case, following directions from the minister. They had been then positioned in numerous centres whereas their circumstances had been being examined.
Her choice was discovered to be “illegal” as a result of the association was made with out exceptions and the immigration service didn’t take into account particular person circumstances.
“Stojberg mentioned she initiated this coverage in an effort to shield underage ladies and in an effort to stamp out little one marriage,” Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom reporting from Copenhagen, Denmark mentioned.
“She has maintained her innocence in all this from the get-go, saying that nothing about this was unlawful.
“Simply final yr this fee [set up to investigate] concluded that the order that Stojberg initiated was as they mentioned, ‘clearly unlawful’ … and that’s what led to this impeachment court docket continuing.”
Parliament should now determine whether or not to disqualify Stojberg from being a member of parliament.
Serving because the Minister for Immigration and Integration from 2015 to 2019 in a centre-right authorities propped up by the right-wing populist anti-immigration Danish Individuals’s Get together (DF), Stojberg helped tighten up Denmark’s restrictive migration coverage.
She boasted of getting handed greater than 110 amendments proscribing the rights of foreigners.
Throughout her time period in workplace, she additionally handed a invoice permitting for the confiscating of migrants’ belongings to finance their care in Denmark.
That is solely the third time since 1910 {that a} politician has been referred to the 26-judge particular court docket in Denmark, which is designed to strive ministers for malpractice or negligence whereas in workplace.
The final case dates again to 1993 with “Tamilgate”, the unlawful freezing of household reunification of Tamil refugees in 1987 and 1988 by former Conservative Minister of Justice Erik Ninn-Hansen.
Ninn-Hansen ended up with a four-month suspended jail sentence.
