COPENHAGEN: American-Canadian anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, arrested in July in Greenland, will face a decide on Thursday (Aug 15) who will rule on his continued detention as a attainable extradition requested by Japan looms.
The district court docket in Nuuk – the capital of the autonomous Danish territory – will rule on whether or not there’s trigger to increase his detention for as much as one other 4 weeks.
“The listening to on Aug 15, 2024 will due to this fact not cope with the query of whether or not or to not extradite him,” police mentioned in a press release.
The choice on whether or not he shall be extradited to Japan, which in the end shall be as much as the Danish Ministry of Justice, shall be taken independently.
Nonetheless, it’ll nonetheless be mentioned on the listening to, his lawyer Jonas Christoffersen advised a press convention on Monday.
“As a place to begin, you’d say that an individual ought to be detained through the extradition case, as a result of in any other case there may very well be a danger that the individual would go away,” Christoffersen mentioned.
Watson, who featured within the actuality TV collection Whale Wars, based Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Basis (CPWF), and is understood for radical techniques together with confrontations with whaling ships at sea.
The 73-year-old campaigner was arrested on Jul 21 when the ship John Paul DeJoria docked in Nuuk to refuel.
“RED NOTICE”
The vessel was on its option to “intercept” a new Japanese whaling factory vessel within the North Pacific, in keeping with the CPWF.
Watson was arrested on the idea of a 2012 Interpol “Crimson Discover” after Japan accused him of inflicting harm to considered one of its whaling ships within the Antarctic two years earlier and inflicting damage.
Solely Japan, Iceland and Norway enable industrial whaling.
Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd’s French department, has advised AFP that Watson believes his arrest to be political, with Japan wanting him as a result of he’s a “political image”.
Essemlali defined Monday that the arrest warrant had been made confidential and was not listed on Interpol’s web site, and Watson would in any other case not have stopped in Nuuk.
“All this was orchestrated. In any case, 14 federal law enforcement officials and a Danish public prosecutor have been placed on a direct airplane to Greenland to arrest Paul.”
Japan requested Danish authorities to extradite him on the finish of July.
In Japan, Watson faces a cost of inflicting damage, which may carry as much as 15 years in jail or a fantastic of as much as ¥500,000 (US$3,300).
He additionally faces a cost of forcible obstruction of enterprise, which carries a penalty of as much as three years in jail or a fantastic of as much as ¥500,000.
“PRESUMPTION OF GUILT”
On the upcoming listening to in Nuuk, Watson’s attorneys intend to argue the detention he has already been subjected to is just not proportional to the offence of which he’s suspected.
“We are going to argue that the three weeks which have handed is greater than sufficient and you’ll’t prolong it additional than that,” Christoffersen mentioned.
With Watson’s historical past of activism, Essemlali mentioned that Japan wouldn’t be lenient, and given his age he would doubtless spend the remainder of his life incarcerated.
“We completely need to keep away from his extradition to Japan, as a result of we all know that if he’s extradited to Japan, he will not get out alive”, Essemlali mentioned.
Francois Zimeray, one other considered one of Watson’s attorneys, additionally blasted the Japanese authorized system on Monday.
“In Japan, there’s a presumption of guilt and the prosecutors are proud to announce that they’ve a 99.6 % conviction price,” Zimeray mentioned.
Watson’s arrest has sparked a collection of protests calling for his launch.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s workplace has requested Denmark to not extradite the activist, who has lived in France for the previous 12 months.