Commission of Inquiry into the Case of the Killing of Mink
The Commission of Inquiry into the Case of the Killing of Mink (short the Mink Commission) is a Danish investigative commission set up by a majority in the Folketing in 2020 to investigate the mink case and began its work 23 April 2021. The commission consists of national judge Michael Kistrup, who is chairman, as well as law professor Helle Krunke from the University of Copenhagen and lawyer Ole Spiermann from the firm Bruun & Hjejle. The Commission will complete its work in the spring of 2022. Background. The Danish  government, led by the Prime Minister, held a press conference on 4 November 2020 as part of the handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. At the press conference, it was announced that it had been decided that all mink in Denmark should be killed due to concerns that the Cluster 5 mutation, which was found in mink and had been transmitted to humans, would have a reduced effect on the at that time coming vaccines against COVID-19. Following the decision, several law professors criticized the decision for not having the necessary legal authority, and called it a violation of the Constitution . Based on the criticism, the Folketing initiated an independent investigation into the killing of healthy mink, and a political majority decided on 10 December 2020 to set up an investigation commission to investigate the Mink case. Terms of reference. According to "the Terms of reference of a commission of inquiry into the case of the killing of mink", the Commission has the task of: The Commission will focus in particular on the 14 days leading up to the press conference, where the decision was announced to the public, as well as how ministers and other relevant people reacted when they  became aware of problems with a lack of legal authority. Furthermore, an independent assessment must be made of whether there was legal authority to make the decision and whether anyone can be held legally responsible for the process. However, the responsibilities of any ministers are not to be assessed. The health or veterinary basis for making the decision itself is not part of the Commission's investigation. On 19 November 2021, the Folketing's Inquiry Committee adopted an additional terms of reference, according to which the commission will investigate the police's use of an action card, which the police  used to speak from when they called mink breeders with information that mink should be killed. It must be investigated by whom and why it was decided that the police should contact mink breeders outside infection zones and who decided to prepare the action card and when. Investigation. After an initial review of the case documents, the commission began questioning of witnesses on 7 October 2021. 61 people have been summoned to testify, which ends with questioning of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on 9 December 2021. The questioning takes place at the District Court of Frederiksberg. External links. Official website  (in Danish)