On the right to marry

Case no. BS-62061/2025-HJR

Judgment delivered on 26 June 2026

A and B
vs.
Storstrøm Prison and the Danish Prison and Probation Service

B is serving a life sentence for, among other things, aggravated sexual assault, homicide and desecrating the dead body. He has been detained in the case since August 2017. A and B came into contact with each other in early 2018 when then 17-year-old A wrote a letter to B in prison. Since then, they have written letters to each other and spoken on the telephone. They have never met in person. In October 2022, A and B requested permission for the prison chaplain to marry them. A’s request to visit B in order for them to marry in prison was denied. B was later denied permission to leave the prison to get married at the city hall. Under the Danish Marriage Act, A and B can only marry if he is granted temporary leave or she is granted a visitation permit. 

The case before the Supreme Court concerned whether the parties were entitled to be granted temporary leave or a visitation permit for the purpose of marrying under Sections 49a and 51a of the Danish Criminal Enforcement Act or Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the right to marry. 

The Supreme Court held that, taken in isolation, the relevant provisions of the Criminal Enforcement Act meant that B did not currently have a right to be granted temporary leave in order to marry, and that A, who he did not have any contact with prior to being detained, also had no right to be granted a visitation permit in order for them to marry in prison. 

The Supreme Court also stated that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights regarding Article 12 did not provide any basis for finding that A and B were entitled to be granted temporary leave or a visitation permit in order to get married beyond that provided for under Sections 49a and 51a of the Criminal Enforcement Act.

The claims against Storstrøm Prison and the Danish Prison and Probation Service were therefore dismissed.