Greenpeace activists who brazenly strutted past police, the intelligence service and bodyguards to demonstrate as heads of state congregated for a royal dinner at the UN COP15 climate summit, are to be charged with lèse majesté.
Paragraph 115 of Denmark’s penal code, which is to be used, deals with crimes against the monarch. There are no previous documented cases in connection with Paragraph 115.
It was in the final days of the 2009 COP15 summit in Copenhagen that foreign heads of state and government congregated in Parliament for a royal gala dinner hosted by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
As government and state leaders from across the world arrived at the location, two Greenpeace activists, dressed for the occasion to look like dignitaries, unfurled a yellow banner calling on leaders to act on climate issues.
They were quickly ushered away by security personnel and remanded in custody for three weeks on charges of falsifying documents and causing a disturbance.
It now seems that the charges will result in a formal indictment under Paragraph 115 of the penal code after the Public Prosecutor, the Prosecutor General and the Justice Ministry have finally decided, after many months of deliberation, to use the paragraph.
Edited by Julian Isherwood
