Press Releases & Updates 1998

Today in Dumbarton Sheriff Court Ian Thomson had his case adjourned after his lawyer had many of his questions to the prosecution witnesses stopped Under the Official Secrets Act. This follows the guilty verdicts against Anja and Jens Light and Angie Zelter yesterday in Helensburgh District Court. The Scottish judiciary have shown an inability to adopt other than a parochial approach to the rule of law.

The activists defence was based on the fact that they had undertaken their disarmament action as the only way to prevent the war crime that is being committed by the UK in its threatening possession and readiness to use nuclear weapons. They presented to the courts exhaustive and compelling arguments on the illegality of the UK’s nuclear arsenal. But the courts have been unable to rise to the challenge.

Yesterday, Mathew Berlow, the lawyer representing one of the defendants questioned an MOD policeman Constable Brennan. He asked whether he would obey an order to shoot all people with black hair. The policeman was indignant , of course not he replied. The lawyer then asked , would he obey this command if he knew that the Government had just passed a law saying that everyone with black hair should be shot. At this point the Sheriff discontinued all questioning, saying that these were complex matters which such ordinary officers could not be expected to understand. These were questions that only senior military personnel and government officials could answer.

JP Stirling avoided the crux of the matter: under the Nuremburg Principles it is the duty of every citizen however humble their public role, to refuse an order which they know to be contrary to International Humanitarian Law. Helensburgh District court was unwilling to confront the issue of the illegality of the present British nuclear defence policy.

Said TP2000 activist and retired company director Alan Wilkie:

"Unfortunately our courts are still living in a smug little bubble of their own. Our law officers do not seem to have been living in the same world as the rest of us - a world in which war criminals from Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia have stood trial and been punished, entirely on the basis of international humanitarian law. As things stand in Scotland you won’t get away with homicide, but you can get away with genocide. Indeed our government is currently getting away with the plans for genocide represented by the Trident system."

Next Tuesday, Sept 29th, two Finnish and one Dutch woman and one English woman will be in Helensburgh District Court. Ian Thomsons case continues at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Oct 8th. Well before the first batch of 23 trials are over the next disarmament camp at the Scottish Trident submarine base, will take place in November.

This is a struggle the global community cannot afford to lose. The laws against mass destruction, genocide and long-term and lasting damage to the environment are there - but they need to be enforced. Here in Scotland global citizens are bringing this issue to the forefront of public debate. This is not a UK issue alone, it effects everyone everywhere which is why people from 10 different nations have been involved.

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