4 acquitted in deadly 2015 Denmark synagogue attack
Four Danish citizens accused of assisting the gunman in two deadly attacks in Copenhagen last year – including one outside a synagogue that left a Jewish security guard dead – have been acquitted.
The Danish court on Tuesday found that the actions of the four men were “not of such a character that the actions can lead to a conviction for complicity,” AFP reported.
Bhostan Khan Hossein, Liban Ahmed Saleban Elmi, Ibrahim Khalil Abbas and Mahmoud Rabea were accused of helping Omar Hussein carry out the attack against Copenhagen’s main synagogue on February 15, 2015. Hussein, 22, was killed in a shootout with police hours after killing a volunteer security guard, Dan Uzan, 37, in the attack. All four faced life in prison if convicted.
The shooting at Copenhagen’s central synagogue in Krystalgade occurred just hours after a fatal shooting at a free speech event at a cultural center featuring Danish cartoonist, Lars Vilks, who is under police protection because of cartoons he drew which caricatured Muhammad.
Uzan and two policemen were shot as they guarded outside of the building in which a bat mitzva party was taking place. The two policemen were injured with gunshots to their legs and arms.
“I dare not think about what would have happened if [the killer] had access to the congregation,” the chairman of the Jewish community in Denmark, Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, told broadcaster TV2 News at the time of the attack.
Hussein and Elmi were convicted on the lesser charge of disposing of the assault rifle Hussein used hours earlier to kill Danish filmmaker Finn Noergaard, and to wound three police officers at a Copenhagen cafe. They are scheduled to be sentenced at a later date. (JTA)