Press Releases & Updates 2004

Michael Smith, 40, a social worker from Glasgow appeared in Helensburgh District Court today for taking part in the Really Big Blockade on 22 April last year. After both police witnesses had given a straightforward account of the facts Michael argued that there was no case to answer as the necessary test for a Breach of the Peace had not been passed. He quoted at least five major High Court rulings but JP Gillies rejected his argument without even adjourning to study them.

Michael then went on to present his own defence outlining all the International Laws breached by the Trident weapons system and said

Given the weight of international law indicating the illegality of these weapons I suggest that the only just and moral thing to do it to oppose their deployment and indeed take steps to prevent their deployment. Do we want to live in the kind of society where principled action is considered in the same way as drunken yobbery? I suggest that people in Scotland dont want that kind of society. I ask the court to support a society where people have the freedom to protest against great injustices.

After a short adjournment Michael was found guilty and fined £175.

TP activists in court said

We are again frustrated that JP Gillies ignored all the legal arguments and reduced justice to a mere issue of sitting in a road.

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