Interpol removes the activist Paul Watson from his red notice

Interpol, the international police cooperation agency, announces that it has withdrawn from its list of the most sought after the activist Paul Watson who opposes whale hunting. Japan claimed him following a confrontation with a whale and was imprisoned several months last year in Greenland.

Paul Watson, 74, is the former director general of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an organization known for his confrontations on the high seas with whale hunting ships.

Japan wishes its extradition in connection with a meeting with a Japanese whale research ship in 2010, when it was accused of having obstructed the official functions of the crew by ordering the captain of his ship to launch explosives on the whale. He and his team deny these allegations.

From 2012, Paul Watson was the subject of a notice rouge d’Interpol.

A red notice is a request addressed to the police around the world. It serves to locate and temporarily arrest a person pending legal action, on the basis of a mandate from the judicial authorities of the applicant country, in this case Japan.

The end of a long hunt

Canada-American activist has long crossed the world’s oceans with an almost unique objective: defending whales, nourishing its popularity with environmentalist and animal rights defenders. Critics have questioned its often combative methods.

My first reaction is that the decision ends 14 years of political persecution and highlights the blatant illegality of Japanese whale operations in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary estimates Mr. Watson in a brief press release provided by Sea Shepherd France.

A small legal victory for me, a major legal victory for the whale.

Denmark does not have an extradition treaty with Japan, where the Paul Watson foundation said it could have faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, and the Danish government refused to extradite it to Japan.

At the time of his release, the Danish Ministry of Justice said that he had not received adequate guarantees from the Japanese authorities that Watson had already spent in detention would be deducted from any penalty he would receive in Japan.

In a statement, Interpol said that the decision to withdraw Watson from the list of Red notices did not reflect any judgment on the substance of the case in Japan, but that it took into account the refusal of Denmark to extradate.

It is not a judgment on the substance of the case or on the events that occurred in 2010 said Interpol’s press release.

The decision means that all the data relating to Paul Watson owned by Interpol will be deleted from his vast databases, which are used to track down some of the most sought -after violent criminals and extremists in the world.

“He is relieved”

William Julie, Paul Watson’s lawyer based in Paris, believes that the commission recognized the disproportionate character of accusations and the considerable time elapsed Since the incident with the whale research ship.

During a telephone interview, William Julie said he informed Paul Watson of the decision. The latter’s reaction was as follows: He is relieved … he had to be resilient as he still does. He is happy that we have won.

Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, praised the good news that this notice was finally canceled but she pointed out that Paul Watson could still be arrested and sent to Japan to be prosecuted.

This does not give Paul Watson his freedom of movement, because the Japanese arrest warrant is sufficient for a country to order his arrest she said.

With Canadian press information