A 28-year-old Métis man was found murdered in a forest in southwest Denmark in late June.
Police arrested a few hours later two suspects, including one who had a Nazi tattoo on his leg and who claimed racist sympathies, according to local media.
Highly criticized announcements
Despite these details, the prosecution overturned any racist motivation this Friday as a public debate on racism in the country continues to gain momentum.
“The crime was the result of a personal relationship (between the victim and the alleged perpetrators) which went very wrong. He has no racist motivation, "said the prosecutor in charge of the case, Bente Pedersen Lund.
"The elder brother [...] has a tattooed swastika on his leg and sympathies for the white supremacist movement and the victim is black so I understand why people are wondering whether this is a racist crime" , said Asser Gregersen, a lawyer for the two brothers, who has no overt sympathy for the far right.
An argument that does not convince everyone. A Facebook page of Black Lives Matter Denmark criticized the authorities, saying that the case was based on race.
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"We are not there to investigate the reasons, but we are wondering about the reasons which prompted the police to put an end to racism so quickly," summed up the spokesperson for the Afro-Danish collective, Roger Courage Matthisen.
A link with George Floyd?
The Danish newspaper DR reported that the attackers also pressed their knees against his neck, making a comparison with the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In Denmark, complaints of racist crime are rare but increasing. They almost doubled between 2016 and 2018, from 140 to 260, according to figures from the Crime Prevention Council.
