(Copenhagen) A Danish court on Wednesday sentenced a 39-year-old Polish man to four months in prison and ordered his deportation for the assault on the Danish prime minister in Copenhagen in June.
The man, whose identity authorities have decided cannot be released to the media, was arrested immediately after attacking Mette Frederiksen on June 7, who was walking in a square in the Danish capital.
“We have found you guilty of punching the prime minister in the right shoulder,” Judge Jacob Scherfig said after a two-day trial.
The attacker, who lived in Denmark for five years, was also banned from returning to the Scandinavian country for six years once he is deported after serving his sentence.
Alcohol and the “surprise effect”
At his trial, he denied any responsibility, saying he remembered actually coming face to face with the head of government, whom he recognized, but not laying his hand on her.
The man said he believed his memory loss was a result of the alcohol he had previously consumed and the surprise of suddenly finding himself so close to M.me Frederiksen.
After the judgment was read, he informed the court through his lawyer that he accepted the decision.
“He was calm, but he was of course disappointed that the sentence was four months,” a sentence that was “a little harsher” than expected, Mr.e Henrik Karl Nielsen told AFP that he did not know how much of the sentence was related to the assault on the prime minister and how much to the other charges.
The man was found guilty of assaulting a public servant and several counts of indecent exposure and fraud in other incidents.
During the investigation, prosecutor Line Steffensen had indicated that he was a regular shoplifter.
Neither the prosecution nor the defense called Mr.me Frederiksen, 46, as a witness because the prosecution argued it could present a strong enough case without his testimony.
Her two bodyguards and one of her friends, eyewitnesses to the attack, were, however, heard by the court.
Having already been placed in pre-trial detention for two months, the attacker will spend two more in a Danish prison before being deported.
“Shaken”
Following this affair, which occurred on the eve of the European elections, Mr.me Mette Frederiksen said she was “shaken” and did not participate in the end of the campaign.
A “mild cervical sprain” was diagnosed by the doctors who examined her.
The head of government subsequently suffered pain in her shoulder and arm.
Elected head of government in 2019 at the age of 41 – becoming the youngest politician to hold this position in Denmark – Msme Frederiksen was reappointed to her post in 2022.
The attack on her, denounced by several leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, came less than a month after the attempted assassination of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
The latter, aged 59, was hit on May 15 by four bullets fired at point-blank range after a meeting of his government and had to undergo two lengthy surgical operations.
Several German politicians have also been attacked at work or during their election campaigns.
“We want a society in which everyone, including prime ministers, can walk down the street safely and calmly, without being harassed by others,” Danish special prosecutor Anders Larsson told AFP ahead of Wednesday’s sentencing.