Kurds acquitted in historic Roj TV case

Verdict: No evidence of PKK connection

Copenhagen City Court yesterday acquitted all ten plaintiffs accused of collecting upwards of 140 million kroner on behalf of the Kurdish group PKK – which is considered a terrorist organisation by the US, Canada and the EU – from 2009 to 2012.

In the largest case in Danish history involving the support of a terrorist organisation, the ten men – who are all of Kurdish background – were found innocent by all three city court judges.

”There is no evidence that the organisation's committee proposed to collect money for the PPK or, for that matter, is part of PKK's European organisation and instruction or that it has relations to PPK,” the verdict stated.

READ MORE: Seven of eight arrestees in PKK case held on remand

Three years of chaos
The case began three years ago when the Turkish Embassy reported the Copenhagen-based Kurdish TV station Roj TV to the Danish intelligence agency PET, eventually leading to the arrest of the ten men.

Roj TV then lost its right to broadcast from Denmark again after the Danish Supreme Court upheld the Eastern High Court decision to revoke its broadcast licence and fine the station 10 million kroner last year. Earlier this year, the station was forced to close.

The court's decision followed 68 court sessions stretching back to September last year.