31/08/2002 - Nordisk Film ignores Supreme Court order to hand over tapes on paedophillia documentary directed by a journalist

The Supreme Court of Denmark ordered production company, Nordisk Film, to hand in the unedited footage of a documentary De paedofile danskere, about paedophilia in Denmark. Directed two years ago by Henrik Grunnet, the documentary follows a paedophile known as “Mogens” around as he goes about his unsavoury business with under-age boys. Grunnet and Nordisk Film refused to hand the tapes over, saying that everything of importance or relevance had been included in the final version. He said handing the tapes over would only damage people’s trust in journalists whose duty it is to protect their sources. Grunnet said that journalists are not policemen and suggested that the police would do better to concentrate on investigating this phenomenon instead of continuing down this legal road. Grunnet said that it was precisely in virtue of his being a journalist that he had been able to make such a documentary. The case has not been resolved and is scheduled to go before the European Court of Human Rights.