Former Danish Minister guilty of illegal separation of immigrants
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Inger Stoejberg will serve 60 days in jail for illegally separating couples in 2016.
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Inger Stoejberg served as Immigration Minister from 2015 - 2019 (GETTY)
Inger Stoejberg, former Immigration Minister of Denmark, has been sentenced to 60 days in jail due to her unlawful policies while in office.
Stoejberg separated young migrant couples in what she called an attempt to "combat child marriage."
The former Minister served in the right-wing Danish People's Party and adopted a harsh view on immigration, enforcing dozens of relevant regulations.
The official ruling according to a mandate in February of 2016 was that refugees under 18 who were married were not to be accommodated together.
Before the policy was rescinded, 23 couples had been separated, among whom are a Syrian couple Rimaz Alkayal, 17, and Alnour Alwan, 26. They were separated for four months, even though Alkayal was pregnant.
Investigations found their separation, among the others', unconstitutional. Each case must be evaluated separately under Danish and international human rights legislation. The investigations discovered that this requirement had been disregarded, resulting in a blatant violation of human rights.
Stoejberg told reporters she had no regrets and that it was not just her who had lost but "Danish values have lost too."
On her part, Rosa Lund, an MP for the left-wing Unity List party, welcomed the judgment and said there had to be consequences for ministers who did not comply with the law.
The former Minister's case is a lengthy one, as last February, she resigned as deputy head of the Venstre conservative-liberal party after its MPs moved to impeach her. Although she is currently an independent MP, she could be removed from parliament.
Stoejberg is a controversial personality in Denmark, and some analysts believe the recent decision, which sent shockwaves through Denmark's political establishment, would energize her fans on the right.
