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Press Releases & Updates 1998
10th December 1998
Peace Activist Fined as UK Confirms Nuclear Threat
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A day after Defence Secretary George Robertson confirmed that the UK had been ready to use "tactical" nuclear weapons during the Iraqi crisis in November, Sylvia Boyes, 55, of Moseley, Birmingham was fined £75 at
Helensburgh District Court.
She was appearing on charges related to her actions on Sunday 15th November when she cut through the perimeter fence at the Clyde Naval Base at Faslane, near Glasgow.
Sylvia claimed that she had a reasonable excuse to attempt to break into
the base. She was convinced that Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system
was illegal under international law. It clearly breached the principles of
the Geneva Convention, by threatening the indiscriminate slaughter of
civilians. Any crime she was charged with was insignificant when compared
to war crime on such a scale.
Sylvia said:
"If you use a simple machete against innocent civilians in Africa you can
be prosecuted for war crime but the nuclear states, including the UK, can
threaten the use of terrible weapons with impunity, according to our
government. It’s a case of the letter of the law killing the spirit of the
law."
In finding Sylvia guilty the magistrate, Mrs McGougan, said that the
intricacies of International Law were of no direct interest to Helensburgh
District Court, and that unless specifically incorporated into the law of
Scotland by Act of Parliament were not relevant. Sylvia is appealing to the
High Court because clearly the assertion that The Geneva Convention and
other laws which protect civilians in time of war do not apply in Scotland
is nonsense.
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