Denmark set to charge ex-defense minister for leaking state secrets

FILE PHOTO: Denmark’s Defence Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen speaks during a press conference after the official ceremony welcoming the deployment of a multi-national NATO battalion in Tapa, Estonia, April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

COPENHAGEN — Denmark’s public prosecutor is set to formally charge former defense minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen for leaking highly classified state secrets, the justice ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Parliament will now have to discuss whether to remove Frederiksen’s parliamentary immunity, a protection against legal prosecution granted to Danish lawmakers.

Frederiksen, who served as defense minister between 2016 and 2019, said in January he had been preliminarily charged with violating a section of the penal code, which includes treason for leaking state secrets.

The public prosecutor intends to charge Frederiksen, still an active politician, with the rarely used section 109 of the code, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in prison.

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