A court in Horsens held a preliminary custody hearing on Friday in a case involving a charge of qualified deprivation of liberty. DR reports that the hearing is connected to the case of a 15-year-old Danish girl who was found in Hungary this week.
The hearing was called with short notice, according to reporting by DR. The public broadcaster, citing its own information, says the case in Horsens is linked to the search for the teenager.
Per DR, the girl was internationally wanted on Tuesday. She was found at a location in Hungary on Wednesday, the broadcaster reports. DR has not stated how many people are charged in the case.
The hearing took place in absentia. That means the charged person or persons were not present in the courtroom, as reported by DR.
The prosecutor in the case argued for the strictest form of closed doors, citing the ongoing investigation. DR reports that weight was placed on the fact that accomplices are still at large. The prosecutor also pointed to material of an offensive nature in the case file.
The judge ruled that the hearing should be held behind closed doors and with a reporting ban. As a result, the press cannot reproduce what was said in court, DR notes. The broadcaster has marked its article as being updated.
What a grundlovsforhør is
A grundlovsforhør is the hearing at which a Danish judge decides whether a person can be held in pretrial detention. Such hearings are normally open to the public, and the charged person is represented by a lawyer. A court can close the doors and impose a reporting ban when it finds that openness would harm an investigation.
Qualified deprivation of liberty is a more serious form of the offense of depriving another person of their freedom. DR’s report does not specify the circumstances that led to the charge, because of the reporting ban imposed by the court.
Timing of the hearing
The sequence set out by DR ties the court date to the police investigation. The girl was internationally wanted on Tuesday and located in Hungary on Wednesday, DR reports. The Horsens hearing followed on Friday, called with short notice.
DR also reports that the prosecutor sought closed doors partly because the investigation is still running and accomplices have not been apprehended. No police statement on the hearing has been published.
At the time of publication, DR was the only outlet reporting on this specific hearing. No further details about the charges, the number of suspects, or the girl’s condition have been made public. Because of the court’s reporting ban, information from inside the courtroom cannot be published.
