On November 1, Danish prosecutors announced their decision to drop the case against the country's former defense minister and former intelligence chief, who were accused of revealing state secrets.
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| Former Danish Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen has denied charges of leaking state secrets. (Source: Reuters) |
According to Danish media, the US National Security Agency (NSA) used Denmark's underwater cable system to spy on officials in France, Germany, Norway and Sweden until at least 2014. At that time, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel was one of the NSA's targets.
The incident was seen as a major international scandal after it was revealed. Many countries have asked Washington and Copenhagen to explain.
Claus Hjort Frederiksen, former Danish defense minister from 2016-2019, and Lars Findsen, former director of Denmark's national intelligence agency from 2015-2020, have faced charges during the investigation.
Specifically, Mr. Findsen was accused of revealing state secrets to 6 people, including 2 journalists. Mr. Findsen even published a book related to the incident and affirmed that he was dismissed due to political conspiracy. In addition, Mr. Frederiksen was also accused of leaking state secrets, but he denied it.
The Danish Supreme Court recently ruled that the trial should be open to the public. However, prosecutors argued that open trials could increase the risk of revealing state secrets.
Most recently, the Danish Public Prosecutor's Office announced that it had dropped the proceedings against the two men because the Danish intelligence agency had stopped providing the court with confidential information about the case. Without this information, the case would be invalid, according to the announcement.
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