Denmark: 8 arrested for financing Kurdish group
Sep 18, 2012, 1:47 PM
Associated Press
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) – Eight Kurdish men were arrested around Copenhagen on Tuesday, suspected of financially supporting a Kurdish organization considered a terrorist group.
Investigator Jens Moeller Jensen says 140 million kroner ($24.6 million) has been shipped from Denmark to the PPK, or Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
He says some 67 million kroner ($11.8 million) was raised in the past three years alone among Kurds in Denmark, mainly from Kurdish businesses.
Those arrested are between 27 and 71 and face preliminary charges of financially supporting a terror group at a hearing Wednesday in Copenhagen. The maximum penalty is six years in prison. Police say more arrests could occur.
“The case was among other things initiated by information police obtained during the investigation of the case against ROJ TV,” Moeller Jensen said.
Turkey has repeatedly said that Roj TV in Denmark is a mouthpiece for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and has urged Denmark to shut it down. The rebel group has been fighting for autonomy in southeast Turkey since 1984.
In January, the Copenhagen City Court said programs aired by Roj TV were inciting terrorism and fined it and its parent company 2.6 million kroner each. However, the court could not suspend Roj TV’s Danish broadcast license because of legal technicalities.
Roj TV disagreed with ruling and an appeals trial starts Oct. 29.
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