A Polish man has pleaded not guilty to punching the Danish prime minister, saying he was too drunk to remember the incident.
The suspect, who cannot be named due to legal restrictions, appeared in court in the Danish capital Copenhagen on charges of violence against a public servant, as well as several counts of indecent exposure and fraud in connection with other incidents.
He has pleaded guilty to several other charges and could face prison time and deportation.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen suffered minor injuries to her neck and shoulder. The attack came just three weeks after Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was seriously injured in an assassination attempt.
The 39-year-old Polish man told the court he was having a bad day when he encountered Ms Frederiksen in Copenhagen in June, just two days before the European Parliament elections.
“I am standing face to face with the Prime Minister, [then] I can’t remember anything else until I was arrested,” he said, quoted by AFP news agency.
Ms Frederiksen, who was punched in the shoulder, was able to leave the scene without assistance.
She said she was “shocked” by the incident at the time, but “it’s okay”.
The prime minister was taken to hospital for tests and then pulled out of the final day of European election campaigning.
She will not be called as a witness in court.
But one of her bodyguards testified that the man came up to her on a busy street, said something she didn’t understand and “punched her hard on the shoulder.”
Ms Frederiksen, 46, is the leader of the Danish Social Democratic Party, the largest party in Denmark’s coalition government.
She took office in 2019 and became the youngest prime minister in Danish history.
