Legal Update
RUSK, the Danish legal help group set up for COP15, have provided the following update in February 2010:
'We have managed to obtain information from many people. Some have just given us statements of what happened in person while others have emailed us. We also have received power of attorney from those we are representing. At the start of January we delivered approximately 300 complaints to the Danish police in
relation to conditions of treatment during detentions.
We have also passed on about 200 cases in relation to the legality of the detentions to lawyers. This means that for some people there are two procedures going on at the same time: a legal case about the legality of the detention that is being dealt with by lawyers and a complaint about detention conditions etc. that is being considered by the police.
We don't know when the police will respond to the complaints. Although we have received acknowledgements, we expect there to be a delay of three to six months before we receive detailed responses. The police have commented in reports in the Danish media that they are very busy as there are so many cases. We are trying to put some of the legal cases in front of a judge but we are still waiting to for a date to be fixed for a court hearing.'