The defense of whales has won, Europe perhaps also a little. By refusing on Tuesday, December 17 to extradite the famous cetacean protector Paul Watson to Japan, the Danish government emerged from the diplomatic quagmire into which it had been immersed for almost five months. While Denmark is due to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union in January, jointly with Poland and Cyprus, Copenhagen “save the honor of Europe”exclaimed William Bourdon, one of Mr. Watson’s lawyers. If the extradition had been accepted, the defense had warned that it would take the matter to the Danish Supreme Court, but also to the European Court of Human Rights in urgent procedure.
The founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd, released early in the morning, immediately filed a defamation complaint with the Paris court against far-right German MEP Siegbert Droese (Alternative for Germany), who had treated him as“ecoterrorist” during a debate in the European Parliament in September. On his release from prison, the old sailor declared himself happy to be able to “coming home for Christmas”in a video published on social networks by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, a structure he launched after falling out with the parent company of Sea Shepherd, of which he now only manages the French, Brazilian and British branches.
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