The crime that got lost in translation

A man charged with assaulting a police officer was acquitted when the court failed to find the violation in the Faroese translation of the Danish criminal code.

The defendant was accused of throwing the contents of an energy drink can into the face of a police officer while he was being apprehended for another offence.

This would, according to Danish criminal law, amount to a charge of assault on a police officer on duty. However, parts of a line in section 119 subsection 1 of the criminal law regarding assault on an officer on duty had disappeared when the Danish law was translated into Faroese.

Due to this omission, the court decided that the man’s actions were not to be regarded as culpable activity in accordance with Faroese law, and he was acquitted of the charge.

Translated by prosa.fo