Colombia is asking Denmark to punish a labor union for making a small donation to the Andean nation's largest guerrilla group, which the European Union classifies as a terrorist organization.
Colombia's foreign minister made the request Wednesday, a day before a Copenhagen court is expected to rule in a related case against seven Danes charged with raising money for the rebels by selling T-shirts on the Internet.
"Colombia has officially asked Denmark to initiate an investigation and punish those responsible for financially supporting the FARC" _ the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia _ Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo said in a statement.
The Danish government had no immediate response.
Denmark's small Wood, Industry and Building Worker union said it had donated 10,000 kroner (euro1,370; US$1,970) to Raul Reyes, a senior FARC commander, to support his insurgency's half-century "fight for freedom."
The gift was made to express solidarity with the seven Danes on trial for allegedly raising money for the FARC and a Palestinian militant group also on the EU terror list, the union said in a news release.
At Colombia's urging, Danish prosecutors charged the seven with violating anti-terror laws in September. The suspects' company, Fighters and Lovers, pledged on its Web site to donate 37 kroner (euro5; US$7) to the two groups for each 175 kroner (euro23; US$35) T-shirt sold.
The defendants, including left-wing activists in their 50s and 60s, face up to four years in jail if convicted. None are currently under arrest.
During trial, they acknowledged selling about 300 T-shirts to raise 10,500 kroner (euro1,407; US$2,070), but said none of the money had been transferred to Colombia.
The case is being closely watched by Colombia's government, which has been trying to crush a small support network the FARC enjoys in northern Europe, where several pro-rebel Web sites are hosted and exiled guerrillas reside.
"We hope they will be punished, but naturally we have to wait for the court's ruling," Araujo told reporters Wednesday.
Colombia also blamed growing "guerrilla chic" in Europe for a young Dutch woman's decision to join the FARC, becoming the first non-Latin American known to do so.
Tanja Nijmeijer _ known by her alias "Eillen" _ appeared trekking through the jungle in combat fatigues in a video seized by Colombian soldiers in July.
"There are organizations (in Europe) that manage to recruit people with nice-sounding rhetoric, full of lies, portraying the FARC as the vanguard of democracy on the international stage _ even as in Colombia (the rebels) carry out all kinds of terrorist acts," Araujo said.
The EU joined the United States in classifying the FARC as a terrorist organization in 2002, outlawing all economic support to the 12,000-person guerrilla army.
The FARC has recently intensified a campaign to be removed from that EU list, capitalizing on mounting international pressure on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to secure the release of 46 rebel-held hostages, including former presidential candidate and French citizen Ingrid Betancourt.
In September, Reyes sent a letter "from the mountains of Colombia" asking European leaders to reject the "absurd and denigrating label of terrorists" for the group.
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Associated Press Writer Jan M. Olsen contributed to this report from Copenhagen, Denmark.
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