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Left-wing activists guilty of assault and data theft
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October 22nd, 2013
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A long-awaited trial of members of Redox and Antifascist Aktion resulted only in suspended sentences for four of the seven accused
A trial of members of the far-left community at Copenhagen City Court concluded today with guilty verdicts for assault and illegal possession of sensitive information.
Four members of the organisation Redox were found guilty of illegally possessing private information obtained as part of their systematic surveillance campaign of members of the far right.
Three were given 60-day suspended sentences while the fourth, who was also found guilty of assault, was given a five-month suspended sentence.
Assault piqued police interest
The assault of three members of the far right community took place in a Nørreport bar in 2009. According to media reports, the incident led police and the domestic intelligence agency PET to start an investigation into the far-left group Antifascistisk Aktion.
A police raid of one of the suspect’s apartments uncovered a hard drive that contained sensitive information of over 6,000 members of the far-right and their families and friends.
Redox used the information to publish reports about the far-right, including the exposure of the secret right-wing network ORG in August 2011. Redox’s website was shut down by the data protection authorities shortly thereafter.
READ MORE: Far-right group accused of being a neo-Nazi cover
Insufficient evidence
Seven members of the left-wing group were in court for the trial on charges of assault and hacking – some, but not all, were charged with both.
Three of the seven – who only faced charges of assault – had their charges dropped and the remaining four were all found guilty of illegally possessing the sensitive information. One was also found guilty of assault.
The four were not found guilty of hacking, however, because the prosecution lacked the required evidence to prove they accessed the information using illegal methods.
No terrorism charges
Several of the accused were also charged with breaking anti-terrorism legislation in 2010, but those charges were dropped before the trial started.
Several others also faced preliminary charges in 2010 and because of the long wait for the trial, their sentences were shortened.
Five of the seven accused have changed their names, reports Politiken.
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