A Danish Army captain and four military police officers were found guilty yesterday of breaching human rights conventions in interrogations of detainees in Iraq. The Copenhagen City Court said Capt. Annemette Hommel and the four co-defendants violated the rights of the detainees by forcing them to kneel in uncomfortable positions during questioning in March 2004.The court declined to issue sentences because of extenuating circumstances, saying the defendants had not received clear guidelines from the Danish military. The five defendants had pleaded innocent in what was Denmarkâs first trial related to its 530-strong contingent in the port city of Basra, 400 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. All five immediately appealed the verdict to a higher court. Hommel, 38, told reporters the verdict was âtotally not in lineâ with her values. âI think the court opted for an unnecessarily hard line,â Hommel said as she rushed out of the courthouse with her parents. The case, which followed prisoner abuse scandals involving US and British troops, was partly based on allegations by civilian interpreters used by the Danish military.
The court said Hommel and the four officers, who cannot be named under a court order, violated Danish military laws by breaching the Geneva Conventions on the humane treatment of prisoners. However, it acquitted the defendants on several counts of mistreatment citing lack of evidence, including charges that they denied the detainees water and verbally insulted them during questioning. The court said military authorities failed to give Hommel clear instructions on how to conduct interrogations, despite her repeated requests for guidance. The three Iraqi detainees, members of the Al-Sadr militia that has battled US and British troops, had been brought to the Danish Camp Eden for questioning on suspicion of setting up illegal road blocks and rioting.
During the trial, which started May 2, Hommelâs defense lawyer, Ebbe Mogensen, said there was no evidence that his client had done anything criminal while questioning the Iraqi detainees. He lashed out at Denmarkâs military command for sending Hommel to Iraq with inadequate interrogation training and said key witness testimonies against her were contradictory and unfounded. Denmarkâs defense chief, Gen. Hans Jesper Helsoe, said in a statement he would not comment on the case until it has been settled by the appeals court. The trial was conducted in a civilian court because Denmark has no military courts.