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Press Releases & Updates 2002
29th November 2002
York Jury Finds Fylingdales Disarmers Guilty
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Today a jury at York Crown Court found Trident Ploughshares activists Sylvia Boyes and Olivia Agate guilty of intent to cause criminal damage at the Fylingdales Ballistic Missile Early Warning Station in Yorkshire in March this year. The women have been asked to pay court costs of £1210 each. Justice Taylor said that in view of the relatively heavy costs he would impose no additional penalty. They have been given a two-year conditional discharge.
When the Judge ordered the confiscation of their tools Sylvia asked that they be sent to Tools for Self-Reliance, an organisation that make tools available in the developing world. The Prosecutor undertook to pass on this request.
Sylvia said: "I don’t usually pay court costs but on this occasion, because the trial was fair, I feel that maybe I should, especially since no compensation will be going to the Ministry of Defence." Olivia said she would not be paying.
In a joint statement Olivia and Sylvia said: "In spite of this decision we continue to believe that this country and all the nuclear weapon states are breaking the law and international treaties by ongoing deployment of their nuclear weapons and Trident in particular. We will continue to campaign by nonviolent direct and indirect action."
The costs they have been ordered to pay brings the total amount of fines, compensation orders and court costs imposed on Trident Ploughshares activists since the campaign began in 1998 to £53990. There have been 1790 arrests and 380 trials. 1680 days have been spent in prison (not counting time in police cells) - most recently the sentence served by Michael Pettersson in Greenock Prison, from which he was released this morning. More direct action is planned, including the Really Big Blockade of Faslane on April 22nd.
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