SUMMARIES OF SELECTED CASES D. Ministry of defence The following case concluded in 2013 was selected for publication as part of the Annual Report: 2013-22. Completely unacceptable case processing time by the Ministry of Defence in case about access to documents regarding Iraq A journalist complained to the Ombudsman about the processing time of the Ministry of Defence in a case about access to information regarding special incidents in relation to detainees reported by the Danish forces in Iraq to the Army Operational Command and the Defence Command. The Ombudsman stated that the Ministry’s processing time of approximately 1 year and 7 months was completely unacceptable. In the particular case, it could not be ruled out that the Ministry’s processing time in itself had kept the journalist from gaining access to the information. The Ombudsman had to consider this a substantially aggravating circumstance. The Ombudsman found no grounds for determining deliberate protraction by the Ministry in order to avoid giving the journalist access. However, the Om­ budsman had to consider it very unfortunate that, as a result of its long case processing time, the Ministry of Defence had got into a situation where the question of deliberate protraction could arise at all – especially in a case like this. The Ombudsman also stated that it was very regrettable that, according to the information available in the case, the Ministry did not inform the journalist about the status of his case after its initial e-mail acknowledging receipt of his request for access. The Ombudsman found grounds for notifying Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee and the Minister of Defence of the case in accordance with section 24 of the Ombudsman Act on errors or derelictions of major importance. In this connection, the Ombudsman also notified Parliament’s Defence Committee. 127