Danish court upholds Denmark’s conviction for couple who helped Syrian refugees

Lisbeth Zornig Andersen and her husband guilty of ‘people smuggling’

The Eastern High Court has upheld a people smuggling conviction for Lisbeth Zornig Andersen and her husband Mikael Lindholm for transporting a group of four adults and two children – all Syrian refugees – from southern Zealand to Copenhagen last September. The couple’s crime also involved giving the refugees coffee and biscuits.

Andersen, a former children’s advocate, said she was unaware she and her husband had broken any laws because they had consulted with police and did not transport the refugees out of the country.

Adding kroner to injury
She and Lindholm were originally prosecuted under the Aliens Act in March and fined 45,000 kroner. The Eastern High Court not only upheld that conviction, it slapped an additional 5,000 kroner onto the fine.

Andersen said she was surprised that the conviction was uphelp, especially because charges against defendants in a similar case in Aarhus had been overturned. She and Lindholm are considering appealing the case again – this time to the Supreme Court.

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