Captain Paul Watson Update

On Thursday, 15 August, Captain Paul Watson appeared in Nuuk Court in Greenland, following his arrest by Danish police on 21 July. 

He arrived handcuffed and being aggressively mishandled by the police (despite being an old, non-violent person) before being escorted into the courthouse.

Once inside, it became clear that the hearing would only take part in Danish. Despite this, he was refused an interpreter, despite it being a requirement by the Danish Administration of Justice Act, section 149, subsection 1 which states that "questioning in court, of a person who does not speak or understand Danish, should be carried out with the assistance of an authorised interpreter." Instead, Paul's lawyer had to try and interpret the most important parts between questions. 

Despite their best efforts in trying to present evidence and reasoning as to why he acted the way he did against the Japanese, as well as evidence against Japan's lawless actions and revenge warrant. 

The judge had very little interest in this, which was also very evident due to the lack of an interpreter. Paul was unfortunately refused his request to be released, and the case has now been handed back over to the Greenlandic Police to investigate before giving a report and recommendation back to the Danish Ministry of Justice. Their decision on the matter is set t
o be announced on 05 September. Until then Paul remains in Jail.

I find it absolutely disgraceful that a country like Greenland has very little care for the human rights of someone as harmless as Captain Paul Watson. How on earth is he meant to be able to stand up and protect himself if they won't even allow him a chance to defend himself. This sort of behaviour isn't just bad for Paul, but for everyone as this sets a very bad precedent due to the countless human rights violations being committed. 

In the meantime, however, his legal team has appealed the decision, and the outcome of the appeal is expected within the next few days. The one small silver lining to come out of this is that hopefully, this will gather even more attention from the public, as well as help build his case even more for it to be dismissed due to these violations. 

In the meantime, however, please show your support by helping share and bring awareness to what is happening as well as signing the petition here. 

“This is not just a movement to protect whales and sharks, seals and fish, it is a movement to protect humanity and all other species on this planet.” - Captain Paul Watson