Copenhagen, Tuesday
A Danish court jailed three local neo-Nazis on Tuesday for attempting to send letter bombs to targets in Britain.
The court sentenced plot leader Thomas Derry Nakaba to eight years in prison, a stiff sentence in liberal Denmark. Accomplices Michael Volder and Nicky Steensgaard were each jailed for three years.
Earlier the jury had convicted the three of preparing three letter bombs, one addressed to British television presenter and former swimming star Sharon Davies, who is married to black athlete Derek Redmond.
Another was aimed at the Anti-Fascist Action organisation and the third at a wing of the far-right Combat 18 group as part of an internecine struggle between neo-Nazi factions.
Danish Police said the devices, disguised as video cassettes, contained dummy explosive but real detonators which could have blown a hand off.
The court endorsed prosecution arguments that the bombers could not know they were using a harmless charge.
The three were convicted under anti-terrorism laws which carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Danish detectives, tipped off by Scotland Yard, intercepted the bombs after Nakaba posted them on January 17 in the Swedish port of Malmo, a short ferry-trip from Copenhagen.
Police raided the suspects' house north of Copenhagen the next day in a swoop during which Nakaba shot a detective in the thigh.
He said that he had believed himself under attack by leftist opponents and fired in self-defence through a closed door.
During the trial Nakaba said that he was acting under orders from a faction of Combat 18, named for the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, A and H - Adolf Hitler's initials.
He said that an Englishman, linked to the group, gave him what was said to be explosives, a pistol and the addresses to which the finished bombs were to be sent.
Nakaba was a member of the Danish National Socialist Movement (DNSB), a local neo-Nazi group, from 1987 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1995 but the DNSB has said it has not seen him since and has no connection with the bomb plot.
Denmark's liberal freedom of speech laws have made it something of a neo-Nazi haven, to the irritation of neighbouring Germany, where Nazi tracts and paraphernalia are banned and to the discomfort of Danes who remember wartime Nazi occupation.-Reuter.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article