Prison for Danish ex-minister

Former Danish integration minister Inger Støjberg has been sentenced to 60 days in prison for misconduct in office. In 2016, she ordered that an asylum-seeking couple from Syria be separated because the woman was a minor. The ministry's order to always follow this procedure when one partner was a minor was unlawful, Denmark's Court of Impeachment ruled. Commentators applaud the decision.

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Politiken (DK) /

A victory for Danish values and rights

The fact that the 26 members of the Danish Court of Impeachment - comprising 13 judges and 13 elected politicians - passed the harsh sentence with only one dissenting vote demonstrates the strength of the rule of law, Politiken stresses:

“Danish values are the losers here, Inger Støjberg said immediately after she was overwhelmingly found guilty by the Court of Impeachment. ... Nothing could be more wrong. It is Danish values that are the winners. The values that are enshrined in the Constitutional Act of Denmark and international conventions, and which form the basis of the rule of law: that no one - not even a minister - is above the law. And that ministers are held accountable for how they exercise their power.”

Jyllands-Posten (DK) /

Hardly acceptable as MP anymore

The minister's attempt to portray the measure as beneficial for the girls has failed, Jyllands-Posten concludes:

“Støjberg tried to make it look like [the trial was all about the problem of] child brides. Several times she said she was 'on the girls' side'. ... Now we have it in black and white that it was not about child brides, but about how she broke the law as a minister. ... Sixty days in prison is not a lenient sentence. And it naturally raises the question of whether Støjberg can still be considered worthy enough to sit in the Folketing [the Danish parliament]. It is up to the Folketing to answer that question. But if dignity is to have any meaning, it is hard to imagine Støjberg retaining her parliamentary seat.”