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Press Releases & Updates 2003
11th February 2003
Trial Exposes British Nuclear Weapons Programme
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On the first day of his trial yesterday, Matthew Holborow exposed the
use of military road convoys to carry Trident nuclear warheads through
the region. He will today be able to give his own evidence and
question the Convoy Commander, a senior Ministry of Defence policeman
who has been summoned from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)
Aldermaston to give evidence.
Matthew Holborow is on trial at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court,
after stopping a military convoy travelling between the AWE and the
Trident naval bases at Faslane/Coulport in Scotland. The convoy was
stopped on the western edge of Newcastle, on 10th February 2002.
Matthew is charged with ’obstruction of the highway’, and his trial
will finish today when he presents his own defence case.
Yesterday, police confirmed on oath that the convoys were carrying
nuclear warheads. Mr Holborow will be arguing today that preparing
for the threat or use of 100-kiloton nuclear bombs, each 8 times more
powerful than the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, is a war crime,
and affords him lawful excuse for his attempt to prevent crime by
stopping the convoy. Speaking last night, he said:
"In the last few weeks, politicians from Olga Maitland to Geoff Hoon,
secretary of state for defence, have openly threatened to use our
nuclear weapons against Iraq. These threats show that the convoys
passing Newcastle are not just military exercises, they are an
essential part of the government’s preparedness to use weapons of mass
destruction on a ’first strike’ basis."
Matthew Holborow will be at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court with
anti-nuclear supporters from 10am this morning (Tuesday).
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