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Press Releases & Updates 2006
5th September 2006
Rolls Royce Blockaders Plead Not Guilty Because Trident is Illegal Under International Law.
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Four Trident Ploughshares peace activists are on trial in Derby Magistrates court today for blockading the entrance to Rolls Royce Raynesway last October. They believe that since Britain’s nuclear weapons policy is illegal, immoral and dangerous, the work carried out at Rolls Royce Raynesway to power Trident is also illegal, immoral and dangerous. They are therefore pleading not guilty to charges of obstruction of the public highway on the grounds that they had a right and a duty under international law to try to prevent the work from being carried out.
Defendant Angie Zelter said
"Under the 1950 Nuremberg Principles, companies and their employees are directly accountable for any part they play in committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. After the Holocaust, businessmen were found guilty of War Crimes and executed for their manufacture and supply of the poison gas used in the concentration camps, even though it was their government which used it. Similarly the managers and workforce of factories such as Rolls Royce Raynesway may one day be held personally responsible for their contribution towards how Trident is used."
Rolls Royce Raynesway make the nuclear fuel pellets which power Trident’s submarines. The UK’s Trident nuclear weapons system is based on 4 submarines which carry between 12 and 16 missiles, each of which can deliver a number of nuclear warheads to individual targets - mass destruction on an unimaginable scale.
Activist David MacKenzie said
"The horrific effects of nuclear weapons cross borders; last for generations; and do not distinguish between civilian and military targets. International law requires military force to be proportionate, discriminate between civilians and combatants and not to do immense environmental damage. Trident is illegal and Roll Royce Raynesway should refuse to power it."
Last updated: 8th September 2006
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