Denmark settles prison pepper-spray case

Denmark has agreed to settle a complaint by a prisoner who was sprayed with pepper spray in a prison cell, and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has removed the case from its docket, DR reports.

The case concerned an incident on 17 December 2024, when two prison employees used pepper spray against a man in an observation cell. He later complained that he had been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, and that the authorities’ investigation was ineffective.

Peter Vedel Kessing, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights, said the settlement suggested Danish authorities had concluded the country would otherwise have been found in violation. He welcomed the agreement but regretted that the court would not assess whether the prison complaints system was adequate.

Denmark was found in violation in October 2023 in a similar case involving the use of pepper spray against another prisoner.