Former Danish Minister for Foreigners and Integration, Inger Støjberg, has been sentenced to 60 days' imprisonment for an official offense.
The Reichsgericht found her guilty of deliberately unlawful acts in the case of the separation of several asylum-seeking Syrian couples, even though officials had warned her to do so.
Out of 26 judges, only one found her innocent.
There is no appeal body.
It is still open whether she will actually have to go into custody or, for example, be allowed to serve as house arrest with an electronic ankle cuff.
Matthias Wyssuwa
Political correspondent for Northern Germany and Scandinavia based in Hamburg.
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At that time Støjberg was a member of the conservative party Venstre and from 2015 to 2019 minister under Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. With an instruction from the beginning of 2016, she is said to have ordered a separation of a total of 23 pairs of Syrian asylum seekers because the woman was a minor. In February 2016, she wrote on Facebook that it was completely unacceptable “that child brides and their spouses are housed in Danish asylum centers”. According to the instructions, the spouses were housed in different asylum seekers' homes.
The cases should not have been assessed individually, nor should consideration be given to common children or pregnancies. Støjberg had denied the allegations. After the verdict was announced, she said she was very surprised. The one judge who wanted to acquit Støjberg noted in his reasoning that there was no evidence that she was guilty. Your decision to change the previous placement practice was based on the desire to protect minors from forced marriages and cohabitation.
The Imperial Court in Denmark seldom meets.
It deals with allegations of unauthorized exercise of office against incumbent or former cabinet members.
The trial against Støjberg was only the sixth trial before the Imperial Court in Danish history and the second in the past 100 years.
Støjberg is non-party, but there has been speculation for a long time whether she might not take on a leading role in the right-wing populist Danish People's Party.