Denmark violated rights of woman in rape case, rules European Court in Strasbourg

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has ruled that Denmark violated the rights of 24-year-old Emma in a rape case. Frederik Waage, a professor of constitutional and administrative law at the University of Southern Denmark, describes the ruling as “notable.” He emphasized that the court recognized a violation of the woman’s privacy and deemed the treatment she received as degrading and against the convention’s rules, stating, “It was simply not good enough.”

In 2021, Emma reported a man for rape to the Danish police, but errors led to the suspect not facing trial, mainly due to using the wrong identification number when notifying him. As a result, the case became too old to be prosecuted.

Louise Halleskov, a public law professor at Aarhus University and an expert in EU and human rights, noted that while cases like this are not uncommon for the court, they are atypical for Denmark. She pointed out that Denmark has typically faced judgments on different types of obligations.

The court’s ruling indicated that there was nothing inherently wrong with Danish legislation, but rather three specific mistakes made by the prosecutor that prevented charges from being filed against the accused rapist. This raises questions about the precedential impact of the case.

Emma’s case had been referred to by the police as “a regrettable mistake.” Following the court’s ruling, Louise Holck, director of the Institute for Human Rights, emphasized that such errors are unacceptable. “Citizens have the right to protection and proper treatment of their cases when they are victims of crimes,” she asserted.

In response to earlier findings, two amendments to the law were passed this summer, including extending the central deadline from two to four months for handling cases like Emma’s. Furthermore, the Danish Parliament has decided that victims of state failures should be able to seek compensation.