In prison in Greenland since this summer, the founder of the NGO Sea Sherpherd has been released. He will not be extradited to Japan, his lawyer announced to AFP.
“Paul is free!!!”. Imprisoned since last summer in Greenland awaiting possible extradition to Japan, the founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd and defender of whales has been released. A hearing on the continued pre-trial detention of the anti-whaling activist was to take place this Wednesday in Nuuk, Denmark, where he was in detention.
“He is free, the Ministry of Justice has just informed us that it has rejected the extradition request,” his lawyer Julie Stage told AFP, specifying that Paul Watson would be able to leave Nuuk prison in Greenland where he had been in pre-trial detention for almost five months.
“Very happy”
The news was made official on social networks by the NGO Sea Shepherd late in the morning this Tuesday, December 17. The media Vakita specifies that the French president of the association for the protection of the seas and oceans, Lamya Essemlali, is on her way to “go and collect Paul from Nuuk prison”.
“We are very happy. It is collective work with Danish and French lawyers”, underlines Maître François Zimeray, counsel to Paul Watson, to BFMTV.
“We are very moved and very happy with this decision. I think the Danes were convinced that extradition to Japan was not justified and would have exposed him to a disproportionate risk,” adds the lawyer, who thinks that Paul Watson will return to France and reunite with his family.
Paul Watson imprisoned: what do we blame the founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd?
The 73-year-old American-Canadian activist is being prosecuted by Japan for, among other things, “obstructing a commercial activity” and is accused of being co-responsible for damages and injuries during clashes with a Japanese whaler in the ocean Antarctica in early 2010.
Lucie Valais Journalist BFMTV
