Expulsion from Denmark

Case no. 32/2025

Judgment delivered on 27 November 2025

The Prosecution Service
vs.
A

A, an Iraqi citizen, had been convicted of attempted manslaughter for stabbing an 81-year-old man several times with a knife, putting his life in danger, on 3 February 2024.

A had been exempted from punishment because, at the time of the offence, he lacked criminal responsibility due to mental illness or an equivalent condition, and he had instead been sentenced to placement in a psychiatric ward for an indefinite period of time.

The case before the Supreme Court only concerned the issue of expulsion.

The Supreme Court stated that, pursuant to Section 26(2) of the Danish Aliens Act, A should be expelled, unless this would with certainty be in contravention of Denmark’s international obligations. The question was whether expelling A would be in contravention of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Supreme Court found that, although the attempted manslaughter was committed at a time when A was mentally ill, the crime was so serious that he could be expelled. 

Accordingly, and for the reasons stated by the High Court, the Supreme Court agreed that the expulsion of A with a six-year entry ban did not violate Article 8 of the Convention.

The Supreme Court stated that, according to Supreme Court judgment of 18 March 2025 (UfR 2025.1964), the amendment of the visa rules on 12 December 2024 clarified that the rules must be administered in accordance with Article 8 of the Human Rights Convention, with the effect that a temporary entry ban imposed on a foreign national who was born and raised in this country or came here at a very young age and who is covered by main group 5 of the visa rules will not in reality have the same effect as a permanent entry ban. The Supreme Court therefore agreed that A’s possibility of obtaining a Danish visa after the expiry of a six-year entry ban is not purely theoretical.