反捕鯨団体創設者の勾留再延長、弁護団「日本が異常な圧力」

【コペンハーゲンＡＦＰ＝時事】デンマーク自治領グリーンランドの裁判所は２日、政庁所在地ヌークで７月に拘束され、日本が身柄引き渡しを求めている反捕鯨団体「シー・シェパード」の創設者、ポール・ワトソン容疑者について、今月１８日までの勾留延長を決めた。延長は６回目。（写真は、仏パリで開かれた、反捕鯨団体「シー・シェパード」の創設者、ポール・ワトソン容疑者の釈放を求めるデモ）
　警察によれば、裁判所は「身柄引き渡しの決定に関連してワトソン氏の立ち合いを確保するため」に勾留延長を認めた。
　２日に７４歳の誕生日を迎えたワトソン容疑者は今年７月、日本の要請を受けて国際刑事警察機構（インターポール、ＩＣＰＯ）が２０１２年に発行した「赤手配書」に基づき逮捕された。海上保安庁が、２０１０年２月に南極海で発生した日本の調査捕鯨船乗組員に対する傷害、器物損壊等の事件の共犯として逮捕状を取得し、国際手配していた。
　検察側が４週間の勾留延長を求める一方、弁護団は釈放を求めていた。弁護団の一人、ジュリー・ステージ氏はＡＦＰに対し、「決定には同意できず、不服を申し立てた」と語った。
　ワトソン氏は法廷を後にする際、記者団に対し、日本の身柄引き渡し要請について「２０１０年の出来事とは何の関係もない」「非常に政治的だ」と主張。
　「日本が望んでいるのは復讐（ふくしゅう）だ。それが目的だ」と続けた。
　デンマークの司法省は先週末、身柄引き渡しに関する決定が近づいているとＡＦＰに語った。ステージ氏は「１４日以内」に決定が下されるとの見方を示した。
　デンマークが身柄引き渡しに同意した場合、弁護団は異議を申し立てる意向だという。
　弁護団のジャン・タマレ氏は、日本政府がデンマーク政府に対し、貿易や商取引を打ち切ると脅迫するなど「異常な圧力を加えている」と批判。
　「われわれは日本の検察だけではなく、政府という戦争機構と対峙（たいじ）している。日本の司法が全く独立していないことの証拠だ」「独立した司法を持たない国に身柄を引き渡すことはできない」と訴えた。
　弁護団は９月、環境活動家を担当する国連（ＵＮ）特別報告者に連絡し、ワトソン容疑者が日本の刑務所で「非人道的な扱い」を受ける可能性があると主張した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/12/03-16:42）

A Greenland court on Monday extended the detention of US-Canadian anti-whaling activist Paul Watson for two more weeks, pending a decision on his extradition to Japan, police said.
The hearing was Watson's sixth since his arrest in July in Nuuk, capital of the Danish autonomous territory.
Watson, who turned 74 on Monday, was detained on a 2012 Japanese arrest warrant, which accuses him of causing damage to a whaling ship in the Antarctic in 2010 and injuring a whaler.
The court in Greenland has today decided that Paul Watson shall continue to be detained until December 18, 2024 in order to ensure his presence in connection with the decision on extradition, police said in a statement.
Prosecutor Mariam Khalil had requested a four-week extension of the detention, while Watson's defence team had sought his release.
We disagreed with the decision and lodged an appeal, lawyer Julie Stage told AFP after the ruling.
Watson, who featured in the reality TV series Whale Wars, founded Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) and is known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.
He was arrested on July 21 when his ship docked to refuel in Nuuk on its way to intercept a new Japanese whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the CPWF.
- Decision pending -
Tokyo accuses Watson of injuring a Japanese crew member with a stink bomb intended to disrupt the whalers' activities during a Sea Shepherd clash with the Shonan Maru 2 vessel in 2010.
Watson's lawyers say they have video footage proving the crew member was not on deck when the stink bomb was thrown. The Nuuk court has refused to view the video.
As he left the court, Watson told reporters that Japan's extradition request has nothing to do with anything that happened 2010.
This is very political, he said.
They want their revenge. That's what this is about.
The Danish justice ministry told AFP over the weekend that it was nearing a decision on the extradition request.
Stage said she expected the decision within 14 days.
Another lawyer for Watson, Jean Tamalet, told AFP on Monday the defence team was very confident.
In November, Watson's lawyers urged Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard to block the extradition.
If Denmark were to agree to Japan's extradition request, Watson's lawyers would lodge an appeal.
Tamalet criticised the extraordinary pressure the Japanese government is putting on the Danish government, which has included threats to cut trade and business deals, he said.
We are up against a war machine that is not just a Tokyo prosecutor, but a government, so that's proof that the Japanese judiciary ... is not at all independent, he added.
You can't extradite someone to a country that doesn't have an independent judiciary.
In September, Watson's lawyers contacted the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, claiming that Watson could be subjected to inhumane treatment in Japanese prisons.
Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya has said the extradition request is an issue of law enforcement at sea rather than a whaling issue.
Watson wants to return to France, where he had been living since July 2023 and where his two young children attend school. He requested French citizenship in October.
Watson's legal woes have attracted support from the public and activists, including prominent British conservationist Jane Goodall, who has urged French President Emmanuel Macron to grant him political asylum.
A petition for his release has gathered more than 210,000 signatures, and some 220,000 have signed in support of his application for French citizenship.