Arrested in Denmark: your rights

Also worth knowing in Denmark

• Denmark did not take part in the EU lawyer directive, but Danish law gives you a defence lawyer; ask for one at once.

Wherever you are arrested

• Your embassy has a right to be told. Under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, which almost every country has signed, the authorities must tell you without delay that you may have your consulate told of your arrest, and must pass on your message if you ask. Ask for it by name: “I am a foreign national and I want my embassy to be told.”
• Ask for a lawyer and an interpreter first. Say that you want a lawyer and, if you need one, an interpreter, before you answer questions. In many countries you may stay silent; where you may, using that right is not an admission of guilt.
• Do not sign what you cannot read. Do not sign a statement or any other document in a language you do not understand, or one you have not been allowed to read.
• Ask that someone is told. Most countries let you have a relative or another person told that you have been arrested. Ask for it, and give the person's number.
• What your embassy can and cannot do. An embassy can visit you, give you a list of local lawyers, contact your family and make sure you are treated like local detainees. It cannot get you released, pay your legal fees, give you legal advice or ask for the law to be set aside.

More about Denmark

• Legal ages in Denmark: majority, consent, criminal responsibility and more →
• The Denmark legal-system profile (Civil law) in the Legal Families Atlas →

Sources

• EU Directive 2013/48/EU: right of access to a lawyer and to have a third person and consular authorities told
• EU Directive 2012/13/EU: right to information in criminal proceedings (letter of rights)
• EU Directive 2010/64/EU: right to interpretation and translation
• European e-Justice Portal: rights of defendants and national information
• Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963 (Article 36: your right to have your consulate told)

For the exact rule and its text, use Denmark’s own constitution and code of criminal procedure, which are the authority. Your own government’s travel advice for Denmark tells you what your embassy there can do.