COPENHAGEN: A Danish court ruled on Thursday that a Danish arms smuggler who airdropped weapons on Indian villagers in 1995 could not be extradited to India, citing the risk of his rights being violated.
Niels Holck, 62, admitted parachuting four tonnes of weapons into West Bengal state to help locals fight government authorities.
New Delhi has been tirelessly trying to have him tried in India, and the issue has been a stumbling block in Danish-Indian relations.
However, the Hillerod district court ruled that he should not be extradited because there was a “real risk” that he would be “subjected in India to treatment in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights,” which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
The court noted that this was despite diplomatic assurances from India that Holck would be housed in a special detention centre during the criminal proceedings in India.
India had said the detention centre would be set up solely to house Holck and that he could be accompanied by Danish police officers who would act as observers.
Holck was the only one of the seven smugglers who managed to escape after the Indian Air Force intercepted their returning plane.
The others, all European citizens, were sentenced to life imprisonment in Calcutta in 2000, but were eventually all released.
India considers the Dane, also known as Kim Davy, the mastermind of the operation, in which hundreds of assault rifles, pistols, anti-tank grenades, rocket launchers and thousands of rounds of ammunition were handed over.
