High Court raises sentences in bomb plot involving Sweden

The Eastern High Court has increased the prison sentences of three men convicted over attempts to detonate a bomb in Odense in December 2023. The bomb contained 4.4 kilograms of plastic explosive, DR reported, citing Ritzau.

A fourth man was acquitted of possessing the bomb and attempting to detonate it. The ruling was announced by Ulrich Thomsen, a special prosecutor at the State Prosecutor for Serious Economic and International Crime.

A Swedish teenager brought the bomb to Denmark on 28 December 2023. Around midnight that night, it was taken to an apartment building on Nyborgvej in Odense, but the men could not get inside. The teenager and 21-year-old Deniz Köycu were convicted over that attempt. Another 21-year-old, Abdulrahman Haj Yousif, was acquitted on that count.

The bomb was taken back to the building the following night. The attempt failed after the men were spotted and interrupted by a police car. The Swedish man, Köycu and Haj Yousif were convicted over this attempt. Shane Nikolaj Nielsen, 22, was acquitted.

Köycu was sentenced to 13 years in prison, up from 10 years in the district court. The Swedish man, who was under 18 at the time of the offences, received 12 years, also up from 10. Ritzau does not name him. Haj Yousif’s sentence was increased from three and a half years to five years.

The High Court imposed the longer sentences after convicting the men under a stricter provision concerning explosions. Thomsen said a new report from an engineering company, together with testimony from a witness, led the court to conclude that the men understood other people’s lives would be in imminent danger if the bomb detonated.

The three men were also expelled from Denmark and given permanent entry bans. Nielsen, who had been sentenced to five years by the district court, was acquitted of the charges relating to attempted detonation. He had been held in pretrial detention and was able to leave court a free man.

Four other men were convicted in the same case in Odense District Court in February and each sentenced to 14 years in prison. They were found guilty of attempting to detonate the bomb and arranging for a man already convicted in the case to shoot at a home in Odense. Their case is also due to be heard by the High Court.