Expulsion in case concerning aggravated violence

Case no. 57/2018
Judgment delivered on 19 September 2018

The Public Prosecutor
vs.
T

In the District Court and High Court, T, a now 23-year-old Iraqi citizen, who had lived in Denmark since he was four years old, had been found guilty of repeat offences of violence of a particularly heinous, brutal and dangerous nature. The High Court had imposed an unsuspended sentence of imprisonment for six months and expulsion from Denmark. T had previous convictions and had previously been sentenced to expulsion twice. The aggravated violence was committed during the probation period of the most recent suspended expulsion. The case before the Supreme Court concerned the determination of the penalty and the issue of expulsion.

The Supreme Court upheld the sentence of imprisonment for six months. With regard to the expulsion of T, the Supreme Court held, among other things, that T should be expelled unconditionally with a six-year entry ban, unless it would be contrary to Denmark’s international obligations. 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 the same conclusion.