COPENHAGEN (AFP) - The Danish defence ministry went on trial here Tuesday in a case brought by a man who claims he was tortured while a prisoner in Afghanistan.

Ghousouallah Tarin has alleged he suffered torture at the hands of US troops in Afghanistan after he was turned over to the Americans by Danish soldiers.

He is demanding damages of 50,000 kroners (6,700 euros, 9,700 dollars) from the Danish state.

The incident took place in March 2003 when Danish soldiers serving with the NATO-led operation fighting Taliban militants arrested 31 Afghans at an Islamic school and turned them over to the US military.

Held in Kandahar, they were released two days after their arrests, complaining of having been mistreated by the Americans, according to a Danish documentary entitled "The Secret War", which aired on Denmark's public television in December 2006.

According to Tarin's lawyer, Tyge Trier, the central question in the trial is what the Danish government knew about the US treatment of Afghan prisoners, which his client alleges was in violation of the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war.

The trial is being conducted behind closed doors and a verdict is not expected until early next year.

More than 700 Danish service personnel under British command are in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Twenty-four Danish soldiers have been killed since the US-led invasion in 2001.