Suspended jail term for whale activist
Source: Agencies |
July 8, 2010, Thursday
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A TOKYO court yesterday convicted a New Zealand activist of assault and obstructing Japanese whaling ships in the Antarctic Ocean, and sentenced him to a suspended prison term.
Peter Bethune was also found guilty on three other charges: trespassing, vandalism and possession of a knife. He had pleaded guilty to all but the assault charge when his trial started in late May.
The court sentenced Bethune to two years in prison, with the sentence suspended for five years - meaning he will not be jailed.
The assault conviction was for throwing bottles of rancid butter at the whalers aboard their ship, including one that broke and gave several Japanese crew members chemical burns.
Bethune, 45, climbed onto the Shonan Maru 2 in February from a Jet Ski to confront its captain over the sinking of a protest vessel the previous month. He slashed a protective net with a knife, which the court said he possessed illegally, to enter the ship.
The former activist for Sea Shepherd, a United States-based conservation group, was held on board the ship and arrested when it returned to Japan in March.
Sea Shepherd
The group has been protesting Japan's whaling for years, often engaging in scuffles with Japanese whalers. Sea Shepherd claims the research whaling mission, an allowed exception to an international whaling ban, is a cover for commercial hunting.
Judge Takashi Tawada said Sea Shepherd has been engaged in "acts of sabotage" against the whalers, and that the use of such violence should not be tolerated.
Bethune did not make a statement in court yesterday, but flashed a message written on a notebook to his lawyers saying he wanted to go home as soon as possible, one of his attorneys said. The lawyer said Bethune would not appeal the ruling. Bethune is expected to be deported within days.
In Wellington, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully welcomed the verdict. Arrangements have been made through consular officials for his return home, McCully's spokesman, James Funnell, said.
"What a relief all right," Bethune's wife Sharon said of the ruling. She credited her husband with raising awareness of Japanese whaling, but added, "We don't want him to be doing it again, though."
Peter Bethune was also found guilty on three other charges: trespassing, vandalism and possession of a knife. He had pleaded guilty to all but the assault charge when his trial started in late May.
The court sentenced Bethune to two years in prison, with the sentence suspended for five years - meaning he will not be jailed.
The assault conviction was for throwing bottles of rancid butter at the whalers aboard their ship, including one that broke and gave several Japanese crew members chemical burns.
Bethune, 45, climbed onto the Shonan Maru 2 in February from a Jet Ski to confront its captain over the sinking of a protest vessel the previous month. He slashed a protective net with a knife, which the court said he possessed illegally, to enter the ship.
The former activist for Sea Shepherd, a United States-based conservation group, was held on board the ship and arrested when it returned to Japan in March.
Sea Shepherd
The group has been protesting Japan's whaling for years, often engaging in scuffles with Japanese whalers. Sea Shepherd claims the research whaling mission, an allowed exception to an international whaling ban, is a cover for commercial hunting.
Judge Takashi Tawada said Sea Shepherd has been engaged in "acts of sabotage" against the whalers, and that the use of such violence should not be tolerated.
Bethune did not make a statement in court yesterday, but flashed a message written on a notebook to his lawyers saying he wanted to go home as soon as possible, one of his attorneys said. The lawyer said Bethune would not appeal the ruling. Bethune is expected to be deported within days.
In Wellington, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully welcomed the verdict. Arrangements have been made through consular officials for his return home, McCully's spokesman, James Funnell, said.
"What a relief all right," Bethune's wife Sharon said of the ruling. She credited her husband with raising awareness of Japanese whaling, but added, "We don't want him to be doing it again, though."
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