who is his wife Yana, 31 years his junior, and mother of his two children?

Arrested in Greenland on July 21 for attempting to intercept a giant Japanese whaler in 2002, this Tuesday, December 17, Paul Watson was released. The activist will be able to reunite with his wife Yana Rusinovich. But who is she?

It's official, Paul Watson is free! After being arrested in Greenland on July 21 and imprisoned for attempting to intercept a giant Japanese whaler in 2002, the activist was released on Tuesday, December 17. “He is free, the Ministry of Justice has just informed us that it has rejected the extradition request,” his lawyer Julie Stage told AFP, as reported The Parisian . The founder of Sea Shepherd will very soon be able to reunite with his wife, Yana Rusinovich, 31 years his junior.

After three marriages, on February 14, 2015, Valentine's Day, Paul Watson married Yana Rusinovich in Paris. Like the activist, the latter is vegan and animal rights activist, reports Liberation in 2016. Together, the couple gave birth to two boys: Tiger, 8, and Murtagh, 4. The defender also has a daughter, Lilliolani, 44, born from his very first union. The founder of Sea Shepherd will soon be reunited with his family. “He misses his children terribly. At the end of the hearing, he insisted that they were deprived of their father and that he was facing injustice”confides Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, in the columns of Paris Match on November 14. Paul Watson is now waiting to return to France, where he has lived since July 2023.

Paul Watson “free”: his French personalities gave him their support

Since his arrest, many personalities around the world have supported Paul Watson. In France, in October Florent Pagny, for example, recorded a song to demand the release of the 74-year-old activist. That same month, invited on the set ofIn societythe singer wanted to explain why he chose to get involved. According to him, the sanction imposed on Yana Rusinovich’s husband is disproportionate: “That it brings these consequences… He, he wasn't even [là]. It's frankly unfair. […] This injustice is what bothers me the most”. An opinion shared by Hugo Clément who supported the defender of whales on his Instagram account in August. Brigitte Bardot, Stéphane Bern and Anthony Delon also took part in this cause by questioning Emmanuel Macron on the situation.