2009-05-26/Christiania lawyer recommends appealing court ruling to Supreme Court
By Michael de Laine, The Copenhagen Voice, 26 May 2009
Christiania lawyer Knud Foldschack recommends his clients to appeal today’s ruling by the Eastern High Court that the free town in the centre of Copenhagen does not have an irrevocable right to its tracts of land.
Christiania lawyer Knud Foldschack said today’s ruling by the Eastern High Court, that the free town in the centre of Copenhagen does not have an irrevocable right to the tracts of land that it occupies, should lead to a recommendation that his clients lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Speaking to news website Politiken.dk, Foldschack said, “I am very pleased with the legal arguments in this ruling. They should lead to us recommending that we appeal to the Supreme Court. Had the ruling been formulated so that we were not right in some of our claims, then we would not recommend an appeal.”
Christiania wanted the court to rule that the Danish state should recognise that the free town had an irrevocable right to use the land where it is located, but the Eastern High Court decided in the state’s favour.
Christiania and some of its residents also lost to the state on other aspects about rights to use the area.
The free town arose in 1971, when a closed military barracks was occupied and opened for public use.
It is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighbourhood covering 34 hectares in Copenhagen, but its relations with the authorities have a unique status as they are regulated by a special law, the Christiania Law of 1989, which transferred parts of the supervision of the area from the municipality of Copenhagen to the state.
Measures to normalise the legal status of the community have led to conflicts. In 2004, the Danish government passed a law abolishing the collective and treating its members as individuals. Beginning in the summer of 2005, a series of protests have been staged by Christiania members. During the same time, Danish police have made frequent sweeps of the area.
Click here to read the Politiken.dk story.
Click here to read the court’s ruling in Danish.