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Press Releases & Updates 2003
14th March 2003
Trident Activists Found Guilty Of Criminal Damage
But Judge Praises Their Calmness And Sincerely Held Beliefs
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This morning at 10am, Trident Ploughshares pledgers Petter Joelson (Sweden) and Elisa Silvennoinen (Finland) appeared at Plymouth Magistrates Court to hear the verdict on a charge of criminal damage to the perimeter fence of Devonport naval base caused during a citizens weapons inspection last November. They were both found guilty and given compensation orders of £146 each. They were both conditionally discharged not to commit another offence - 12 months for Petter and 6 months for Elisa, otherwise they will be re-sentenced for this offence.
After hearing Petter and Elisa’s arguments about international law, the district judge said that Petter and Elisa were calm, peaceful, caused minimal damage and were clearly honest and sincere in their beliefs about the horrors of nuclear weapons and the imminent threat. However, there was not a sufficiently close link between the fence cutting and the threat to Iraq for the charges to be dropped.
Petter said: "I am very disappointed that we were convicted, Trident remains an imminent threat and I will continue campaigning. Once again I can’t see the logic of a situation where Tony Blair is threatening Iraq with nuclear war if they don’t grant access to weapons inspectors, while we were arrested for a peaceful inspection of Britain’s illegal weapons of mass destruction."
In February last year HMS Vanguard, the first of four Trident submarines, arrived in Devonport for its scheduled refit. It is expected that refitting the four submarines will take a total of eight years. This poses appalling hazards from radioactive emissions and horrifying danger from an accident or a terrorist attack to everybody who lives within at least a 30 mile radius of Plymouth, adding to the existing grave risk posed by the 12 nuclear powered submarines already sited at Devonport. And all in the middle of a major and densely populated city.
Trident Ploughshares was established in 1998 to challenge the UK’s illegal and immoral possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons. Trident Ploughshares activists pledge to dismantle the UK’s nuclear arsenal in a peaceful, non-violent, open and accountable manner. As at 22 Jan 2003 there had been 1,803 arrests, 398 trials, 1,711 days spent in prison and £56,490.50 of fines and compensation orders.
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