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Danish youth cleared

01 January 2001

The Czech police lost their case against the young Dane, Mads Traerup, who was charged with attacking police officers during the protests against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank summit in Prague in September last year (see Statewatch vol 10 no 5 & 6). Around 800 participants in the demonstrations were arrested and kept in prison for shorter or longer terms. Traerup, who was held in a Prague prison for 72 days, was the last to be released. During his imprisonment he consistently maintained that he was innocent of the charges against him. In December Traerup was released on bail set at 170,000 Dkr (£14,000) and returned to Denmark. On 1 February his case was listed at the Prague Court and he returned to appear before the judges. At the seven hour court hearing the state prosecutor demanded a fine of 120,000 kr and permanent expulsion from the Czech Republic; alternatively, she wanted him jailed for two years. The prosecution presented three witnesses, all police officers, but none of them were able to positively identify Traerup and even contradicted themselves in their description of what actually took place during the protests. According to a Danish newspaper report from the trial they did not convince the three judges and Traerup was acquitted. The state prosecutor appealed the decision on the spot. According to a Czech human rights organisation several hundred people have, in the aftermath of the demonstrations, issued complaints about the treatment they received at the hands of the Czech police. A Danish Radio a spokesperson said that the police force, ten years after the downfall of the old regime, is still influenced by authoritarian methods and ideology. Many of the demonstrators experienced these "old" methods last September.