Press Releases & Updates 2004

The five ’Pitstop Ploughshares’ were once again in court in Dublin on Monday. They were once again hoping to set a trial date, however once again this did not occur. The defendants decided to allow the prosecution to try and complete it’s job of giving the defence disclosure of evidence, and also to allow Ciaron his request to go back to Oz to see his parents.

The five will be back in court in Dublin on October the 11th 2004 when hopefully the trial date will be set. It looks like it may be a 2005 trial now.

Justice of the Peace, Viv Dance, was forced to acquit Mr Balfour after it was revealed that he had not been warned or cautioned before being taken into custody, nor had he been allowed an opportunity to receive clarification of the charge.

The Scottish Socialist Party activist was scathing in his criticism of the process leading up to his trial:

"This case has been a farce from start to finish," said Mr Balfour afterwards. "The suggestion that a peaceful protest against weapons of mass destruction would cause any reasonable person alarm is laughable. But if the police feel they must unnecessarily arrest non-violent activists, they should at least follow proper procedures."

To make matters worse for the beleaguered Procurator Fiscal, neither of the police witnesses called by the Crown had been the arresting officers. Unrepentant afterwards, Mr Balfour vowed to return to Faslane to continue the ongoing campaign.

"This catalogue of procedural errors demonstrates the impact that a concerted campaign of peaceful disobedience against injustice can have. Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons remain illegal, so we will be back at Faslane before long."

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