Sonia Horon, Global Animal
Paul Watson, the famous founder and captain of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, over the weekend. The charges against him are related to an incident in Costa Rica from 2002, when Sea Shepherd protested shark finning. The outstanding warrant for his arrest was also for attempted murder, which Sea Shepherd is calling a “fallacy.”
The 2002 Sea Shepherd protest in question was against a Costa Rican ship called the Vardero, which was illegally hunting for shark fins. A statement on Sea Shepherd’s website reads “On order of the 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.” The Vardero crew are claiming that Sea Shepherd tried to kill them, but Sea Shepherd maintains that they steered clear of the hostile boat and headed for Costa Rica.
Captain Watson is now awaiting extradition to Costa Rica. Sea Shepherd, the subject of the Animal Planet reality show Whale Wars, is hoping that the charges against him will be dropped. “While in jail, Captain Watson is being assisted by the European Parliament Vice President Daniel Cohn Bendit and the European deputy Jose Bove. Our hope is that these two honorable gentlemen can set Captain Watson free before this nonsense goes any further.”
Let him free Germany, you are getting a bad name listening to a corrupt Costa Rica.
and what did the illegal shark finners get Id like to know????
Ambassador of Costa Rica: -Release Captain Paul Watson the entire world is watching http://www.change.More…
The charges are ridiculous. Interesting they waited nine years to file them. These people are resorting to the ridiculous because their illegal activities are being exposed and they are attempting to shift the spotlight off themselves.
Hell Yes!
Yep. It seems as though the charge was initially brought against him due to their embarrassment that he exposed their finning operations in supposedly protected waters.More…