I
composed A Danish Question a decade ago. For
me, these have been years of great suffering, frequent insult, and crushing
frustration. My own nation, to which you and other Europeans
returned me against my will and in flagrant violation of International Law,
will do nothing to secure my rights or provide me with the equal protection of its laws. There is no possibility of justice here, no way to obtain effective advocacy. My people are content to see me suffer.
My respect for your nation and its government has diminished as a monumental, sickening coverup has impressed itself more and more vividly upon my consciousness. You didn't just abuse me, Denmark. You didn't merely reject me arbitrarily as a refugee and subject me to the human rights crime of involuntary repatriation. You didn't merely obstruct processing of the complaints I filed against you before the UN Human Rights Committee and the Committee Against Torture. You lied about me, Denmark!
How do I know this? My own government, your partner in crime, has told me so. Among the very few records available to me under the federal Privacy Act is the document known as 91 Copenhagen 8790, which the US Department of State has seen fit to share with me. This telegram
dated 18 December, 1991 sent from the US Embassy in Copenhagen to the Secretary
of State reports that Danish officials had informed the Embassy of
their intention to repatriate an American citizen whom they described as
"apparently deranged" and "hospitalized here" [in Denmark]. No mention
is made that I had applied for political asylum in your country.
Those are vicious, slanderous lies! This web site now contains scans of documents that demonstrate their falsehood. The intake document dated 18 September, 1991 shows that I was, indeed, an asylum-seeker in Denmark, UDL Number 88-051.481. The notes made by Danish Immigration Police in December, 1991 demonstrate that I was still at Sandholm, still an asylum-seeker, still trying to escape from the United States of America. They also indicate that Danish officials were aware of my complaints against Denmark before UN Committees and were already trying to impugn my sanity. The letter that I composed and gave to the Police at Sandholm on 12 December, 1991 demonstrates my lucidity of thought as well as the legitimacy of my actions and requests. The document that represents my final accounting and expulsion from Denmark clearly refers to me as an asylum-seeker, not a mental patient. I was never hospitalized in Denmark!
Those were not your only lies, Denmark. Before you lied about me, you lied to me. Poul Madsen and Regnar Rasmussen led me to believe that my asylum application would be processed under "normal procedure." Instead, I received a "manifestly unfounded" decision that admitted of no appeal and provided no legal representation. They led me to believe that they would help me retrieve, from the Amsterdam train station, two trunks that contained not only most of my documents, but also my winter clothes. The Danish Police and the Danish Red Cross both refused to help me recover the trunks. I had to pay $200.00 to have them shipped to me in the USA after you subjected me to illegal forced repatriation. Mssrs. Madsen and Rasmussen led me to believe that my cashier's check would be used to establish an account in my name at Bikuben Bank. This was never done, and Police later returned the check to me, claiming that it had bounced. That was a lie. The check was perfectly good. I was able to cash it in the USA.
Denmark, in a letter from your embassy in Washington, DC, you claimed to have "no knowledge" of my UN complaints. That was a lie. Then, there is that literary rejection signed, apparently, in Geneva, but mailed two days later from Kastrup, Denmark. What is that all about?
Denmark, you have lied and lied and lied. Such behavior is common among those who have much to hide.
If you have left, at long last, any modicum of decency, stop obstructing my UN complaints. Submit to the terms of the human rights treaties you have freely signed and ratified. While your victim, though suffering, is still breathing, do the right thing. For a start, take back your damn dirty
lies, Denmark! Take them back now!
Complaint Against Denmark and the Netherlands before the UN Committee Against Torture
Complaint Against Denmark before the UN Human Rights Committee