CAPTAIN Paul Watson was right to escape from Germany before he could be extradited to Costa Rica on trumped up charges involving Sea Shepherd stopping illegal shark fining and then be extradited to Japan to face charges for interfering in Japan's illegal and immoral whaling. This from Sea Shepherd on Capt Watson's escape from Germany, his attorney's statement and a message from the good Captain himself.....
July 25, 2012
Attorney for Captain Paul Watson Confirms the Activist has Departed Germany
Sea Shepherd Has Learned Japan May Also Be Seeking To Extradite Watson
After
three days of speculation surrounding his whereabouts, German legal
counsel for Captain Paul Watson has confirmed the marine conservationist
has departed Germany and is in an undisclosed location.
“Captain Watson’s attorney reports he has left Germany,” said Susan
Hartland, Administrative Director of Sea Shepherd. We have reason to
believe from a reliable source that, once in Costa Rica, the Japanese
Government may have sought extradition of Captain Watson to Japan to
answer charges related to obstructing their illegal whaling activities
in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. We have no further information
and are not in touch with him. We will do our best to provide more
details as we learn more. We will post any new information as it arrives
and we are able to confirm its validity."
Captain Watson had been detained in Germany for 70 days despite
thousands of letters of support sent to the German Ministry of Justice
from the public, celebrities, politicians and other luminaries arguing
for his release. He was arrested in Frankfurt on May 13th on a
10-year-old warrant from Costa Rica while en route to Cannes, France. He
was being detained in Germany for extradition to Costa Rica for an
alleged “violation of ships’ traffic,” which occurred during the 2002
filming of the award-winning documentary, “Sharkwater.” The specific
incident took place on the high seas in Guatemalan waters, when Sea
Shepherd encountered an illegal shark-finning operation run by Costa
Rican vessel, the
Varadero. On order of Guatemalan authorities, Sea Shepherd instructed the crew of the
Varadero to cease their shark-finning activities and head back to port to be prosecuted. While escorting the
Varadero back
to port, the tables were turned and a Guatemalan gunboat was dispatched
to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew. To avoid the Guatemalan gunboat,
Sea Shepherd then set sail for Costa Rica, where the crew uncovered even
more illegal shark-finning activities in the form of dried shark fins
by the thousands on the roofs of industrial buildings.
Please continue to check our website for additional updates.
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/07/25/attorney-for-captain-paul-watson-confirms-the-activist-has-departed-germany-1410
July 26, 2012
Attorney for Captain Paul Watson Confirms Sea Shepherd's Beliefs: Japan is Seeking to Extradite Watson
The
Japanese Government is again stopping at nothing in their quest to
bring an end to Captain Paul Watson’s efforts to cease their illegal
whaling activities. German Counsel for Watson, who departed Germany
after being held for 70 days for extradition to Costa Rica, has
confirmed the Japanese Embassy submitted a request to the German Foreign
Office to extradite Watson to Japan.
Germany had been proceeding with Watson’s extradition to Costa Rica.
Sea Shepherd has had concerns that Watson's life would be in danger or
he would be extradited to Japan. Today, Sea Shepherd's suspicions were
confirmed by Watson's attorney.
“I received confirmation today from Germany’s General Public
Prosecutor that Japan filed an extradition request against Paul Watson
on July 19th,” said Oliver Wallasch, lead German Counsel for Captain
Paul Watson.
“Germany was proceeding with Captain Watson’s extradition to Costa
Rica and, once there, there is no doubt he would have been delivered
into Japanese custody,” said Susan Hartland, Administrative Director for
Sea Shepherd. “Upon being extradited to Japan, he would not have
received a fair trial and would never have seen the outside of a prison
again,” she added.
Even with a rumored bounty of at least $25K on his head by
shark-finners in Costa Rica, Watson was prepared to go to Costa Rica of
his own volition (not via extradition) and answer to charges of a
violation of ship traffic involving water cannon usage back in 2002.
However, he then learned his arrest had caught Japan’s attention and
they contacted the German Ministry of Justice to strike a deal with
them. This deal with Germany would involve Germany not objecting to a
Japanese request to Costa Rica to turn Watson over to Japan. Sea
Shepherd knows that Interpol dismissed the Costa Rican warrant. But
Germany arrested Captain Watson on May 13th despite the politically
motivated warrant and decided that they would entertain the Costa Rican
request on a bilateral basis — on behalf of both Costa Rica and Japan.
“Japan’s attempts at brokering backroom deals with Germany and Costa
Rica along with bringing litigation against Sea Shepherd in the U.S. are
desperate attempts to stop Captain Watson and will never thwart Sea
Shepherd’s continued work to protect our oceans,” said Hartland. “We
operate under the United Nations World Charter for Nature to uphold
international conservation laws and directly intervene against illegal
activities on the high seas. Japan is under the false impression that if
they jail Captain Watson, they will halt our campaigns to protect ocean
wildlife. It’s time Japan realizes nothing they do will stop us from
protecting whales and other marine wildlife for future generations
everywhere,” she added.
Captain Watson had been detained in Germany for 70 days despite
thousands of letters of support sent to the German Ministry of Justice
from the public, celebrities, politicians and other luminaries arguing
for his release of these politically motivated warrant. He was arrested
in Frankfurt on May 13th on a 10-year-old warrant from Costa Rica while
en route to Cannes, France. He was being detained in Germany for
extradition to Costa Rica for an alleged “violation of ships’ traffic,”
which occurred during the 2002 filming of the award-winning documentary,
“Sharkwater.” The specific incident took place on the high seas in
Guatemalan waters, when Sea Shepherd encountered an illegal
shark-finning operation run by Costa Rican vessel, the
Varadero. On order of Guatemalan authorities, Sea Shepherd instructed the crew of the
Varadero to cease their shark-finning activities and head back to port to be prosecuted. While escorting the
Varadero back
to port, the tables were turned and a Guatemalan gunboat was dispatched
to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew. To avoid the Guatemalan gunboat,
Sea Shepherd then set sail for Costa Rica, where the crew uncovered even
more illegal shark-finning activities in the form of dried shark fins
by the thousands on the roofs of industrial buildings.
Check back for additional updates.
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/07/26/attorney-for-captain-paul-watson-confirms-sea-shepherds-beliefs-japan-is-seeking-to-extradite-watson-1412
July 30, 2012
Captain Paul Watson Sends Sea Shepherd First Message for Supporters Since Departing Germany
For the first time since the world began speculating why Captain Paul
Watson made the decision to forfeit his bail and depart Germany after
being held there under house arrest for 70 days, the Captain himself is
speaking out. He relayed a message to Sea Shepherd headquarters over the
weekend, asking that it be provided to his supporters. The complete
message follows:
Captain Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Photo: Mike MulleTo my friends and supporters,
I am presently in a place on this planet where I feel comfortable, a
safe place far away from the scheming nations who have turned a blind
eye to the exploitation of our oceans.
The German government said I betrayed their trust by leaving Germany,
yet they had already betrayed my trust. The German politicians had made
up their minds politically before the German court had made a decision,
and during the time I was held in Germany, the Japanese negotiated with
Germany to file for an extradition order to Japan on fabricated evidence
provided by former Sea Shepherd Crewmember, Peter Bethune.
In 2010, the Japanese ship
Shonan Maru #2 deliberately rammed and destroyed the
Ady Gil,
nearly killing 6 people. The Japanese captain was not even questioned,
damages were never paid, no charges were filed and they took the
Ady Gil
captain, Peter Bethune, back to Japan where he cooperated to provide
false evidence to the Japanese Coast Guard to blame me for the boarding
actions, despite the on-camera documentation that I specifically advised
against the boarding by Bethune.
We have cost the Japanese whaling industry tens of millions of dollars
and in October 2011, they were allocated a war chest of some thirty
million dollars in misappropriated Tsunami Relief Funds to combat Sea
Shepherd. With that money they have increased security at sea, filed
civil suits in the U.S. Courts against us, and they have researched just
where we might be vulnerable.
And the one possibility they found was a decade-old incident that
occurred in Guatemalan waters in 2002. This charge simply involves
obstructing a Costa Rican long-liner with water hoses. It was an action
that occurred with permission of the Guatemalan government and it was
against a fully documented illegal shark-finning operation that was also
filmed for the award-winning documentary film, "Sharkwater." It was
against a vessel that only a year before had been convicted of
shark-finning in the waters of the Galapagos National Park Marine
Reserve, where our vessel the
Sirenian had helped to apprehend them.
Japan had previously tried to have me arrested by Interpol for the
Bethune incident but Interpol refused their request for a 'red'
notification, allowing them only a 'blue' notice, meaning that countries
could report my movements to Japan but could not arrest me.
In December, the President of Costa Rica met with the Prime Minister of
Japan. I had attended the Hamburg Film Festival in November 2011
without being arrested in Germany. In March I traveled to Spain and
France without incident. Yet in May of 2012, I was arrested in Germany
on an extradition warrant from Costa Rica. And what I found was that
Costa Rica, like Japan, had issued an Interpol notice and Interpol at
the end had dismissed the request.
Germany however, a country without an extradition treaty with Costa
Rica or Japan, decided to apprehend me on what they described was a
bilateral agreement with Costa Rica. This, of course, caught Japan's
attention and they began negotiations to apply directly to Germany with a
request for my extradition. That request by Japan was approved by
Germany on July 23rd, 2012. I was alerted to this by reliable sources on
July 22nd.
With Costa Rica, I had the evidence on film and with two dozen
witnesses I was confident that I could win the case against the
allegations of the shark finners. My only concern was that Costa Rica
would then hand me over to Japan. For with Japan, there is the absolute
certainty that once in Japanese custody, I will never be released.
That certainty meant that there could only be one option: I made the decision to depart Germany immediately.
I find it absurd that in all the years I have been campaigning for the
protection and conservation of marine life, where I have not caused a
single injury to a single person and have only interfered with illegal
operations as defined by international conservation law, that Japan can
make accusations against me after destroying a two-million-dollar
vessel, injuring a crewmember and almost killing five others.
I am very disappointed with the German government. For me it is obvious
that the German government conspired with Japan and Costa Rica to
detain me so that I could be handed over to the Japanese. For me it is
clear that they made the political decision to turn me over to the
Japanese even before a court decision was made. All the German people
that I have met were supportive of the work I do. I did not meet a
single critic in the streets, in the courts, in the media or at any of
the events and presentations that I attended. Even the police and
members of the court were supportive.
I am very thankful for the support that I received in Germany and
especially from the sympathetic sources that provided me with the
information about the decisions made and the impending political
decision to accept the Japanese demand to extradite me to Japan, once a
court decision would be on their desk.
This was never really about Costa Rica. It has been about Japan all along.
We have confronted the Japanese whalers for eight seasons and we have
humiliated them at sea and more importantly we have frustrated their
illegal profiteering from the killing of whales in the Southern Ocean
Whale Sanctuary.
This is not about justice; it is about revenge. It is about a small
group of dedicated volunteers opposing an economic super power and a
multi-million-dollar whale poaching operation in a whale sanctuary. It
is about speaking truth to economic and political power.
Costa Rica and Germany have simply been pawns in the Japanese quest to
silence Sea Shepherd in an attempt to stop our annual opposition to
their illegal whaling activities.
I know the whale killing poachers of Japan will continue to exploit all
avenues to find a way to stop me. I have, however, eluded them once
again and I will continue to try and keep a step ahead of them, no
matter what risks and costs have to be made.
I can serve my clients better at sea than in a Japanese prison cell and
I intend to do just that. In December, our ships will sail forth for
the ninth campaign to oppose the outlaw Japanese whalers in the Southern
Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The campaign will be called Operation Zero
Tolerance and we will risk our ships and our selves yet again in the
effort required to stop these pelagic bandits in their remorseless
slaughter of the gentle giants of the seas.
Thank-you for your continued support,
Captain Paul Watson
Continue to check back for future updates.
Background: Captain Watson had been detained in
Germany for 70 days despite thousands of letters of support sent to the
German Ministry of Justice from the public, celebrities, politicians and
other luminaries arguing for his release of this politically motivated
warrant. He was arrested in Frankfurt on May 13th on a 10-year-old
warrant from Costa Rica while en route to Cannes, France. He was being
detained in Germany for extradition to Costa Rica for an alleged
"violation of ship traffic," which occurred during the 2002 filming of
the award-winning documentary, "Sharkwater." The specific incident took
place on the high seas in Guatemalan waters, when Sea Shepherd
encountered an illegal shark-finning operation run by Costa Rican
vessel, the
Varadero. On order of Guatemalan authorities, Sea Shepherd instructed the crew of the
Varadero to cease their shark-finning activities and head back to port to be prosecuted. While escorting the
Varadero
back to port, the tables were turned and a Guatemalan gunboat was
dispatched to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew. To avoid the Guatemalan
gunboat, Sea Shepherd then set sail for Costa Rica, where the crew
uncovered even more illegal shark-finning activities in the form of
dried shark fins by the thousands on the roofs of industrial buildings.
http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2012/07/30/captain-paul-watson-sends-sea-shepherd-first-message-for-supporters-since-departing-germany-1413
To sign “Take strong action to stop the Japanese from killing whales in the Southern Ocean Antarctic Whale Sanctuary,” go to: http://wh.gov/Vnbu.
To sign “Provide Safe Haven to Captain Paul Watson, Founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society,” go to:http://wh.gov/VnRf. 
