Reply #11: "More defenders of whale slaughter"

[OKIsItJustMe]

I (for one) am not a "defender of whale slaughter."

On the other hand, I prefer Greenpeace's (lawful but persistent) approach. In the end, I think Paul Watson's vigilante approach does more harm than good, in that it fosters a negative public perception of environmental activists as "dangerous extremists."

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/activists-charged-for-exposing

Activists charged for exposing whale meat scandal

Greenpeace denounces charges as disproportionate and politically motivated

July 11, 2008

*Update: Junichi and Toru were released on bail late in the night on July 14th! The two activists were set free by a panel of three judges in Aomori, Japan pending their trial. An appeal by the local prosecutor was rejected by the judges, and Junichi and Toru headed home to see their families after 26 days in jail. A big “Thank You!” to the more than 250,000 people worldwide who took action on their behalf!

The fight is not over, however, as the investigation into Japan’s illegal whaling program was dropped the same day the activists were charged. And, of course, Junichi and Toru must still have their day in court.

No date has been set for the Tokyo Two’s court appearance, but given that only about 10% of bail applications are granted by Japan’s court system, hopes are now running high that they will prevail.

Said Frode Pleym of Greenpeace, “We are extremely relieved that our two activists have finally been released. However, our biggest question remains unanswered: why did the Japanese Prosecutor drop his investigation into the compelling evidence of whale meat embezzlement by whaling crew members brought to him by Greenpeace? We call on the Government to reinstate its investigation into the corruption in the whaling fleet.”

Greenpeace Japan's activists, Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, were charged with theft and trespass by the prosecutor in Aomori after they exposed a major scandal around the embezzlement of whale meat from the Japanese government-sponsored Southern Ocean whaling program.

Junichi and Toru were placed in detention in Aomori at the time of their arrest on June 10th and were held until July 14th despite widespread international protest. They exposed the whale-meat embezzlement scandal on May 15th, when they presented a box of whale meat stolen by the crew of Japan's so-called "scientific whaling" fleet to the Tokyo Public Prosecutor. A dossier documenting how the box was intercepted during the four month long Greenpeace investigation was also submitted to the Tokyo Public Prosecutor.

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