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Niels Holck, also known as Kim Peter Davy and Niels Christian Nielsen (born 1961 in Aars) is a Danish activist, alleged terrorist [1] and author known for his role in the Purulia arms drop case in India. [2]
He is author of the book De kalder mig terrorist (transl. They call me Terrorist). [3] He claims to have been involved in a 14-year journey from 1982 that involved building schools in Guatemala, agricultural projects in India and attending tiger conferences in Russia.
He is currently the manager of a company which sells houseboats. [4]
Holck was the prime suspect accused in the Purulia ammunition dropping case. He was given a red corner notice by Interpol.
Around 1995 he was involved in humanitarian work for the people in West Bengal, which at that time was governed by the Left Front. The authorities claim that he was involved in smuggling of weapons. He admits as much himself in his book They Call me A Terrorist, claiming that he made the weapon drop from a plane purchased in Latvia. Apparently his motives were to arm a militia and topple the democratically elected communist party government in West Bengal. [5] A total of 4 tonnes of arms were trafficked during his dealings in West Bengal. [6] Additionally, in 2010 Danish police confiscated two forged and expired passports with British names and the photo of Niels whilst searching his home. [6]
In 2002 the Justice Minister Lene Espersen stated that he could not face extradition.
As of 2009 he is considered the second Dane together with Camilla Broe at risk of being extradited to a country outside the European Union where he faces a possible death sentence. Camilla Broe was indicted for the importation of narcotics into the United States and while extradited and delivered to US custody was later returned to Denmark when the statute of limitations barred an expeditious trial. [7]
On 9 April 2010, Danish police arrested him in order to start an extradition trial. [8] Based on experiences from the fiasco in the Camilla Broe case the prosecution will demand detention but will accept a confiscation of his passport(s) if the court feels that the rather lengthy extradition process will prevent him from keeping contact with his family. The extradition agreement between Denmark and India has been changed so he will have to be returned home no later than 3 weeks after a sentence has been given at the expected trial abroad. [9]
On 1 November 2010, The Hillerød Court overturned the Justice Ministry decision to extradite Niels Holck based on the expected inability to protect him against "rough treatment". [10] On 14 November 2010, the Indian government told that they would try to get him extradited despite the clear ruling of the court. [11]
Among the allegations are that Niels Holck was smuggling weapons to Ananda Marga, an activist socio-spiritual organisation which follows an economic and political philosophy called PROUT.
Based on the experiences made from the Camilla Broe case, the extradition agreement between Denmark and India is improved in order to handle some of the problems experienced in the previous case. [12]
Amnesty International did however criticize the extradition based on lack of trust that countries like India doesn't have the resources to fulfill their part of such agreements. [13] [14] The United Nations Special Torture Rapporteur was quoted for the statement that the Indian guarantees that the man will not be tortured are worthless. [15]
In April 2010, the news agency Press Trust of India reported that the Danish government has agreed to submit Niels Holck not only to the trial but also to serve out his entire sentence in India. [16]
In September 2010, it was reported that the court system in India is not committed to follow the terms of any extradition agreement due to the ruling in the case against another extradited underworld don Abu Salem who was extradited from Portugal to India. [17] This ruling from the Supreme Court of India can influence the extradition case against Holck because the agreement between Denmark and India mandates that Holck cannot be convicted to death [18]
On 30 June 2010, the High Court of Eastern Denmark ruled that he should not be extradited to India based on the risk of torture by the Indian authorities. [19]
On 16 August 2011, India decided to cut connections to Denmark except for diplomatic relations. [20] The Indian authorities were upset over the Danish government’s stance to not appeal the decision of the Eastern Danish High Court in the Supreme court despite a special request from India’s minister of external affairs, S M Krishna, to his Danish counterpart and an assurance from Indian authorities to house Davy in a special jail, if extradited. The Indian government issued a circular directing senior officials to not meet or entertain any Danish diplomat posted in India. [21]
Also, the funding activities of the Danish aid agency (DANIDA) to NGOs and civil liberties groups came under intense monitoring by the authorities in India. [22] This was a consequence of the fact that Denmark would not extradite Holck and statements by the Danish Minister for Development Aid, Christian Friis Bach, that Denmark should “hand out rights instead of food to help people to fight for their own rights through demonstrations, campaigns, litigation or rights of access to public administration”. [22]
Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows states or international organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where the alleged crime was committed, and regardless of the accused's nationality, country of residence, or any other relation to the prosecuting entity. Crimes prosecuted under universal jurisdiction are considered crimes against all, too serious to tolerate jurisdictional arbitrage. The concept of universal jurisdiction is therefore closely linked to the idea that some international norms are erga omnes, or owed to the entire world community, as well as to the concept of jus cogens – that certain international law obligations are binding on all states.
In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdictions and depends on the arrangements made between them. In addition to legal aspects of the process, extradition also involves the physical transfer of custody of the person being extradited to the legal authority of the requesting jurisdiction.
Abu Salem, also known as Aqil Ahmed Azmi and Abu Samaan, is an Indian criminal gangster and terrorist from Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh, Central India. Abu Salem worked in the D-Company as a driver transporting artillery and contraband. Later he rose among the ranks after he introduced a new strategy of hiring unemployed youths from his hometown Azamgarh to come to Mumbai, execute shoot-outs and return the next day remaining untraced by the Mumbai police. He is currently serving a life sentence in India.
Fighters+Lovers is a group consisting of 7 Danish people. The group has made a clothing company, brand and record label which sells controversial T-shirts, perfumes and CDs. The T-shirts feature logos of the FARC and the PFLP. These groups have been labeled by the United States Government and the European Union as terrorist groups. The company sold the T-shirts and collected 24.982 DKK and they were going to send the money to a radio station run by FARC and a printing press run by PFLP, however the money never made it to these groups because the police arrested the 7 people in February 2006 and withheld the funds.
The Purulia arms drop happened on 17 December 1995 when unauthorised arms were dropped from an Antonov An-26 aircraft in Purulia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The chief accused "Kim Davy" has been vocal about his involvement in the arms drop. He asserts he tried to procure arms to protect members of Ananda Marga from communists and claims that it was a conspiracy of the Congress Indian government together with R&AW and MI5 to overthrow the communist government in West Bengal and he was given assurances from the central government about his safety and return to Denmark. He further alleges that MP Pappu Yadav, in association with the then Prime Minister of India P. V. Narasimha Rao facilitated his safe exit from India. Niels Holck is author of the book De kalder mig terrorist. Niels Holck was involved in a 14-year journey from 1982 involved in community building projects like building schools in Guatemala, agricultural projects in Ananda Nagar, Purulia, India and attending tiger conferences in Russia. According to Holck, the Government of India at the time permitted arms drop operation for Ananda Marga to be able to protect its projects and people from the onslaught of Communists in Bengal. The Communists in Bengal had been targeting and killing people involved with Ananda Marga projects right from the 1970s, and this continued well into the 1990s.
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