The court in Greenland has decided on a matter of principle regarding which country an inmate must serve his sentence. The man in question lost the case and must therefore stay in Denmark.
A judgment in Greenland gives not automatically entitled to serve time in the country. This was emphasized by the Court in Greenland with a decision on 15 September.
The case is about a 45-year-old man with a Danish-Vietnamese background, who on 24 July 2025 in the Sermersooq District Court was sentenced to six years in prison.
Sermitsiaq followed the trial in a series of articles where we called the man S. He was convicted of possession and aiding and abetting the smuggling of cocaine and aiding and abetting the cultivation of cannabis in Nuuk.
After his sentence, S. was moved from the institution in Nuuk to the institution in Aasiaat.
In October 2025, the Correctional Service decided that his prison sentence should be converted to a Danish prison sentence.
S. wanted to stay in Greenland and complained to the Ministry of Justice in Denmark. However, the ministry did not want to change the decision, and in November 2025 S. was transferred to Nyborg Prison.
A matter of principle
After this, S. took the unusual step of bringing the matter before the courts. It is possibly the first time that this has happened for a decision of this type.
In any case, the case had been moved from the district court to the Court in Greenland, on the grounds that the case was a matter of principle.
In court, S. elaborated on why he wanted to be transferred back to Greenland.
It was easier for him to find a job in Greenland, where he would like to work with rubies, explained S.
And many bad things had happened to him in Denmark, he continued.
But the Court of Greenland upheld the Ministry of Justice’s decision with its decision on 15 September. This means that S. must remain in a Danish prison.
The court emphasized that he has lived most of his life in Denmark, where his mother and his children also live. He had only stayed in Greenland since 2022 or 2023, before he was detained for drug offenses in September 2024.
However, the case is not over yet, as S. is appealing the court’s decision to the Greenland High Court.
