November 26, 2005

On November 22, Johan and Kirsten Kirkmand, parents of slain Danish soldier Bjarke Kirkmand, formally sued Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen for breaking the Danish constitution by deciding to bring Denmark into the US-led illegal aggression against Iraq.

In this way, the two parents have now joined the 24 plaintiffs, who on October 11 delivered a writ to the Danish High Court instituting legal proceedings against the Danish Prime Minister for breaches of § 19 of the Danish Constitution, according to which the use of military force may only be applied under a UN mandate, and within the boundaries of commonly accepted international law. Furthermore, the decision is considered to be in breach of § 20 of the Constitution, as it does not fulfil the requirement of a 5/6 parliamentary majority in relinquishing sovereignty, the Danish troops having been placed under foreign command.

Bjarke Kirkmand, 21 years old and from Hundslund, a small village in Eastern Jutland, was killed by a road side bomb on October 1 in Al-Hartha near Basra, where the Danish occupation troops have their military base. He was the second Danish soldier to be killed in Iraq. On August 16, 2003, Preben Pedersen was killed in "friendly fire" according to the Danish military.

Denmark has approximately 500 soldiers in Iraq, thereby being the second largest contingent in Iraq compared to its population. Only the former Soviet republic Georgia has more troops in Iraq when one compares the number of troops with the number of inhabitants.

Johan Kirkmand and his family have been opposing the war on Iraq from the start. At the funeral of their son, they did not want the participation of the Danish military, and Kirkmand stated just some days after that he would work for bringing the Danish troops home before Christmas.

On December 3, Kirkmand will participate in a public anti-war gathering in Odense together with Lars Grenaa, the anti-war activist, who symbolically threw red paint at Prime Minister Fogh Rasmussen in the Danish parliament just as he was going to announce that the Danish government was intending to participate in the illegal aggression against Iraq. That happened on March 18, 2003. Grenaa was sentenced to three months imprisonment and a huge fine. Also present at the meeting will be Sammi Alaa, Chairman of the Danish Committee for a Free Iraq, which supports the Iraqi resistance. Being the voice of the Iraqi resistance in Denmark, the committee has been under vicious attacks from the government, the mainstream press and reformist so-called left-wing parties, which have joined forces in accusing the committee of "supporting terrorism" and being "supporters of Saddam".

On December 10, Kirkmand will participate in the international peace conference in London in which Cindy Sheehan from the US will be present as well as other personalities from the worldwide anti-war movement. On December 20, the day his slain son Bjarke would have turned 22 years, Kirkmand will head a commemoration ceremony in front of the national parliament in Copenhagen.

The parents, Johan and Kirsten Kirkmand, deserve all the compassion and support they can get, as do the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have lost their loved ones in this unjust, unnecessary and criminal war launched by the international capitalist mafia headed by the US multinationals and with US President Bush just being a figurehead in all this. The Kirkmand’s lost their son because of the deliberate lies of the criminal Danish government of Fogh Rasmussen. The mendacious Prime Minister did not only break the Danish constitution, but he broke the UN Charter, too. Sad to say, "Welfare", "Democratic" Denmark is today being governed by a mob of liars and war criminals. Fogh Rasmussen and all the other aggressors like George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi, José María Aznar, etc. should face a Nuremberg trial like the Nazi aggressors faced 60 years ago. Only then will justice have some sense.

It is now up to the Danish people to ensure that Fogh Rasmussen and the other Danish politicians, who have been participating in the illegal war and occupation of Iraq and are responsible for more than 100,000 Iraqi lives, are faced with justice. First and foremost, it is our obligation towards the Iraqi people, who has been suffering so tremendously as a result of the gigantic war crimes that unfortunately are still being carried out with Danish participation.

Victory to the Iraqi resistance!
Punishment for Fogh Rasmussen and all the other war criminals!


Carsten Kofoed is the Spokesman of the Danish Committee for a Free Iraq, www.fritirak.dk.