Press Releases & Updates 1999

At Argyll and Bute District Court today, Monday 16th August a Dutch Trident Ploughshares activist was sent to prison for seven days for refusing to pay a fine resulting from her involvement in a blockade in February at Faslane nuclear weapons base near Glasgow.

Marjan Willemsen (22), a Dutch student, had been held in custody over the weekend and appeared at a hastily convened hearing in a small room in Helensburgh Police Station, which could only accommodate four members of the public. In setting the sentence the JP did not take into account the days she had already served. Marjan told the Justice of The Peace: " I have said right from the start that I had no intention of paying this fine. I have done nothing wrong. I was acting to uphold international law."

David Mackenzie said:

"There appears to be no rationale or consistency in the response of the local criminal justice system to our disarmament work. How they deal with individuals seems to depend on the side of the bed they get out of. They are bringing the judicial system into disrepute. Add to that their failure to understand the relevance of international law to the local Scottish system and you have a lamentable failure in a key public service. As a Scot I am embarrassed and ashamed."

Meanwhile Trident Ploughshares activists are camped at Coulport for 14 days of concentrated action against the nuclear weapons bases on the Clyde. Since the camp began there have been 42 arrests and many further activities are planned for the coming week.

In Cornton Vale Prison Marjan will join Ellen Moxley, Ulla Roder and Angie Zelter, whose trial has now been set for 27th September in Greenock Sheriff Court, before a jury. On June 8th the three women put out of action a Trident related floating laboratory in Loch Goil, causing damage estimated as at least £100,000.

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