Expulsion in case concerning witness intimidation and blackmail

Case no. 42/2018
Judgment delivered on 24 May 2018

The Public Prosecutor
vs.
T

T, who is now a 30-year-old stateless Palestinian from Lebanon, has lived in Denmark since he was four years old. The District Court and the High Court had found him guilty of two counts of witness intimidation under Section 123 of the Danish Penal Code and one count of blackmail under Section 281(1)(1) of the Penal Code, and he had been given an unsuspended sentence of imprisonment for eight months. In addition, he was sentenced to suspended expulsion from Denmark. T had previous convictions and had previously been sentenced to suspended expulsion. The two cases of witness intimidation were committed during the probation period of the suspended expulsion. The case before the Supreme Court only concerned the issue of expulsion.

The Supreme Court held, among other things, that T should be expelled with a six-year entry ban, unless this was in contravention of Denmark's international obligations, cf. Section 24b(3), cf. Section 22(6), cf. Section 32(2)(2) of the then applicable Danish Aliens Act. Based on an overall assessment and according to the nature and severity of both his current and previous offences, the Supreme Court found that unsuspended expulsion with a six-year entry ban did not amount to a disproportionate measure that was in contravention of Article 8 of the European Human Rights Convention.

The High Court had reached a different conclusion.