Press Releases & Updates 2000

At a makeshift court today in Rhu, near Helensburgh, Kreb Dragonrider (42), a practising Druid from Faslane Peace Camp, was given unusual and questionable bail conditions as he appeared from custody facing a number of charges, including most recently a charge of "Malicious Mischief" yesterday for attempting to cut the perimeter fence at the Coulport base. He has been banned from going nearer than 100 yards of the Faslane naval base and from going nearer than 250 yards from the Coulport base. The shorter distance at Faslane is because he resides at Faslane Peace Camp which is within 250 of the perimeter fence there.

Three other activists were released after appearing in court. Zoe Weir (24) from Faslane Peace Camp and Julie O’Connor from Manchester, had been held because early on Thursday morning, immediately after being released from Clydebank Police Station where they had been held after an attempted to cut the perimeter fence at Faslane, they went up to the Coulport fence to cut their way in. Morag Balfour (27) from Glenrothes was arrested yesterday for blockading the gate at Coulport. Earlier, Marjan Willemsen (23), a Dutch woman from Faslane Peace camp, was given a "Fiscal’s Release" after being held overnight in custody. She had been charged with obstructing the police as they arrested Kreb Dragonrider.

Argyll and Bute District Court is struggling to find court dates for Trident Ploughshares cases. To add to this pressure it was discovered today that the newly adapted premises for the District Court in Helensburgh will not have disabled access and cases involving disabled accused persons or witnesses will have to be held elsewhere.

A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "The bail conditions set for Kreb breach the European Convention on Human Rights. Under that convention all people have a right to protest peacefully in public space. The failure of the District Court to make its premises disability friendly is another evidence of how far out of touch it is with legal and social realities."

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