Case dropped against officers in documentary

The State Prosecutor in Viborg has decided to drop the investigation and prosecution of two police officers from the South East Jutland Police, charged with aggravated assault for using pepper spray during the arrest of members of a Syrian family on November 8, 2021. The arrests were covered in the DR documentary ‘Persecuted by the Police?’. The State Prosecutor has also decided to halt investigations into complaints of violence by several officers during arrests and transport to the Vejle Police Station. Following a thorough review of materials and footage from the Independent Police Complaints Authority, State Prosecutor Jakob Berger Nielsen concluded there is no basis for a trial against the officers. The material will now return to the Authority to consider a conduct case instead of a criminal case. Nielsen believes the officers’ use of force was not excessive or beyond what was necessary and defendable as criminal violence.