Investigation
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Based on court documents and unpublished testimonies, “Libération” reveals the fragility of the accusations which led the Japanese authorities to issue an international arrest warrant against the founder of Sea Shepherd. The facts date back to a campaign carried out in 2010 off the coast of Antarctica.
After having scoured the Far West of the high seas to warn Japanese whaling ships, the American-Canadian activist Paul Watson, founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd, has been locked up for more than seventy days in a Greenlandic cell, waiting that Denmark, which has supervision over this autonomous territory, decides on his possible extradition to Japan. From the window of his prison, the 73-year-old green pirate admires the beauty of the fjord and the whales that come to breathe between the icebergs while castigating a Japanese vendetta. “They want to use me to show that their whaling is not being interfered with,” he denounces to Agence France-Presse.
On Wednesday October 2 in Nuuk, the island’s capital, a new hearing will be held relating to a third request for release filed by his lawyers. But, basically, what exactly does Japanese justice blame the famous “eco-warrior” for? So far, only a few vague accusations have surfaced, while Watson faces up to fifteen years in prison, according to Japanese law. Release immersed himself in a fourteen-year-old case, also exploring its Japanese side. For this, it was necessary to go through legal documents never revealed, harvest
