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Environmentalist Paul Watson is to remain imprisoned in Greenland

by AI | 15.Aug 2024 | Europe in brief AI

Paul Watson has appealed the decision on his continued detention in Greenland to the Greenland High Court.

Photo: July 20, 2022 (AFP / Kerem Yücel)

A judge at Sermersooq District Court in Greenland decided on Thursday that the detention of environmental activist Paul Watson should be extended to September 5.

This is stated by Greenland Police in a press release.

The detention is to ensure Watson’s presence in connection with the decision on his extradition to Japan.

Paul Watson has appealed the decision to the Greenland High Court, which now has to rule on the case.

The 73-year-old Watson, who has been involved in environmental activism for most of his life, was arrested on July 21 in Nuuk by Greenland Police, who were assisted by Danish police in the arrest.

The arrest was based on an international warrant from Japan, which wants to prosecute Watson for an incident in Antarctica in 2010 when Japanese whalers were in the process of capturing and killing whales.

Authorities in Japan believe that the Canadian-American environmental activist assaulted the whalers and prevented them from doing their job.

Japan has sent a request to Denmark to extradite Watson. It is the Ministry of Justice that must decide on this.

Watson is a co-founder of Greenpeace, from which he is no longer a part, and the founder of the organization Captain Paul Watson Foundation.

The prosecution argued, according to the Greenlandic media Sermitsiaq.AG, during the court hearing that the detention should be extended so the Ministry of Justice has time to assess whether Watson should be extradited to Japan.

Watson’s defenders argued, according to the media, that he should not be extradited to Japan at all.

In advance, Paul Watson’s lawyers had announced that they would present video material that according to them proves that the most serious charge against the activist is unfounded.

The charge is that Watson, according to Japanese authorities, harmed another person, which can be punished by up to 15 years of imprisonment in Japan.

The judge, however, according to Sermitsiaq.AG, did not allow the video to be shown after the prosecution argued that it could not be determined whether the video clip had been manipulated.

Watson himself declares himself innocent of all charges.

“I am completely innocent. It is Japan that wants revenge,” he said at the court hearing according to the Greenlandic media.

There is to be a court hearing on Watson’s possible continued detention on September 4.