COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s top prosecuting authority said Friday that it has approved the extradition to India of a Danish national accused of involvement in an arms smuggling case 28 years ago, but that a court of law must make the final decision.
Niels Holck has admitted taking part in dropping assault rifles, rocket launchers and missiles from a cargo plane in eastern India in 1995. Indian police said they were meant for an Indian revolutionary group.
While a Briton and a five Latvians were arrested by Indian authorities, Holck - previously known as Niels Christian Nielsen - escaped.
Prosecutor Henriette Rosenborg Larsen said that Denmark has looked into a 2016 Indian extradition request and that “it is our assessment that the requirements in the extradition act have been met.”
It is now up to a district court to decide whether he should be extradited, and any such ruling can be appealed to a higher court, she added.
If Holck is extradited and convicted in India, he will serve any prison sentence in Denmark, Rosenborg Larsen said.
India first asked Denmark to extradite Holck, who is now in his early 60s, in 2002. The government agreed, but two Danish courts overturned the extradition decision, saying he would risk torture or other inhumane treatment in India. That led to tense diplomatic relations between the countries.
Seven years ago, Danish authorities said they had received another extradition request from India.
“We have full confidence that the courts this time will also come to the conclusion that he cannot be extradited,” Holck’s lawyer, Jonas Christoffersen, told Danish broadcaster DR.
“The risk of him suffering harm in India is no less now. Nothing fundamentally has changed.”
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