The Commission’s task was initially to investigate the actions of the authorities in connection with three official Chinese visits in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
During a Chinese state visit in 2012, protesters were deprived of Tibetan flags and police shielded them so they could not penetrate to the Chinese delegation. It was “clearly illegal”, the first Tibet Commission stated back in 2017.
The interventions were in violation of both the Constitution, the Police Act and the Convention on Human Rights, the report said. Since then, the commission was set up again and was tasked with investigating visits dating back to 1995.
When Lidegaard became foreign minister in 2014, several cases were pending in which protesters had complained about the incidents in 2012. At that time, no official body had criticized the police. It first happened in a district court ruling in September 2015.
However, due to the conversation with the nephew after the visit in 2012, Lidegaard had heard that something had happened that might not be quite right.
– He told me that they had been told that the demonstrators must not get too close, says Martin Lidegaard, who at the time of the conversation was Minister of Climate and Energy.
The Tibet Commission’s questioner, Jakob Lund Poulsen, wants to know if Lidegaard discussed it with anyone in the government or in his ministry.
– I remember I mentioned it. But I can not remember to whom. Maybe a department head or a department head. I can also not rule out that it was against another minister or a party colleague, says Martin Lidegaard.
He also says that when he became foreign minister in 2014, he did not discuss his knowledge from the conversation with his nephew with anyone in the ministry.
When Lidegaard was questioned in the first commission back in 2017, according to the commission’s report, he said he was not sure he was “aware of the issue when he took office as foreign minister”. The conversation with the nephew is not mentioned.
The Tibet Commission will continue questioning a number of witnesses until mid-June. It is still unknown when its report will be completed.