Was Japan standing on a whale? Dismissal the 'only proper political answer to extradition request'

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00:00Let's go back to one of our top stories now.

00:03It's a story that environmentalists have been following for five months.

00:08The anti-whaling campaigner, Paul Watson, freed from a jail in Greenland.

00:15Danish authorities looking at the length of the sentence he would have gotten, or certainly

00:21the time in detention, had he been extradited to Japan and deciding that because it was

00:30a case dating back to 2010, a protest in front of a Japanese whaler, that it was not worth

00:36it.

00:37Case dismissed.

00:39Let's turn to one of Paul Watson's lawyers, William Jullier.

00:42Thank you for coming and speaking with us here on France 24.

00:45Good evening.

00:46Were you surprised by Denmark dropping the case?

00:51No, happy.

00:53It should have happened a long time ago, but we knew that there was massive pressure from

00:58Japan on the Danish authorities.

01:01The Minister of Justice had already, on one or several occasions, started to indicate

01:10the extradition was absolutely possible.

01:15The investigation that was carried out by the Greenland Police and Prosecution Service

01:22concluded in favour of extradition.

01:24So we knew that the case was with a risk of a favourable decision to extradite, even if

01:33this seems completely crazy, but we knew on the ground that was the situation and it flipped.

01:41And yet the Danish authorities, this Tuesday, stating in their verdict that, well, whatever

01:47happens the punishment would not fit the crime, since we're talking about old events, minor

01:53injuries, and if he'd gone to Japan, guilty or not, it would have been a long time in

01:59detention.

02:01They have admitted, without saying it clearly, that what we've been saying for five months

02:09is correct, meaning he's wanted for supposed crime committed 14 years ago, which is a minor

02:18crime.

02:20Would he have done anything?

02:22We provided evidence that he's done nothing, that no one was injured on that boat coming

02:28from this stink bomb.

02:30The Justice Minister has now admitted that it's a minor issue, that it goes back so far

02:39in time that the proportionality test is not met, and this even more because Japan

02:50has not given any guarantees that would Paul be extradited to Japan.

02:56The time spent in custody, five months, which is quite a long time, would not be 100% sure

03:03deducted from the sentence that he could receive.

03:08On the face of that, they dismissed the case.

03:10But the bottom line, Francois, what is written down there is on paper.

03:16We know that this is a political decision, and we know that the extradition request,

03:27the persecution of Paul Watson by Japan is political.

03:33We all know that.

03:35The Danes knew it, Japan knows it, France knows it, Sea Shepherd knows it, the US knows

03:43it too, and we can get to that in a minute.

03:48Paul Watson is a US citizen, and the US finally got involved and, I think, brought a lot of

03:57help to our cause, putting a counter-pressure on Japan.

04:02This was something that, I think, made a last minute difference.

04:08Just a week ago, Paul Watson, US citizen, but lives in France, and there were reporters

04:14who asked the French president, would you grant Paul Watson citizenship?

04:18He played coy, he didn't answer the question.

04:22Because our guess is that there's been so much pressure from Japan on the French authorities

04:28that officially nothing could be said.

04:31But what I was coming to is this involvement, last minute involvement of the US, which was

04:39dealt by our team leader, Jean Tamalay, from King & Spaulding, an American US firm, who

04:47succeeded in involving the US to come on the finish line, speak to the Danes, and explain

04:55that there was a real political issue here at stake.

04:59And I think that, strengthened by our legal arguments, everything we've been bringing

05:05to the table in the past five months, we ended up to what was the only proper political answer

05:13to this request, which is a no.

05:14William Chudy, after five months, how do you explain it?

05:16Why is Japan so adamant when it comes to defending its right to fish for whales?

05:26Because I think that they needed to pursue this, as I said, it's a persecution.

05:38But what is it about Japan and whaling?

05:40It's about something that I think should move on.

05:45It's about not, I reckon, all people in Japan are in favour of this ancient culture.

05:54And I think that politically, some high level individuals in Japan are pushing because this

06:02is of their own interest in regards to interior political matters in Japan.

06:11But I think it's a wrong move and it's a wrong fight.

06:18And I think that Japan should maybe consider what happened here, to maybe try and move

06:27their own lines and understand that they have the international community in its, not far

06:36from entirety, against them.

06:39And when we will get this red notice out of the system, Interpol will have confirmed worldwide

06:48that it's not only the Danes which decided not to extradite and the French who gave shelter

06:54to Paul in 2015 and months and years after without never facing arrest.

07:02We obtained disclosure by Interpol that Japan was claiming that Paul Watson had been arrested

07:07in France in 2015, which is a lie.

07:12And we have obviously evidence to demonstrate this.

07:16So we're building a strong case against Japan.

07:18Just to remind our viewers here, a red notice is if you want someone extradited, you send

07:23out an all points bulletin to all the countries that are part of Interpol.

07:27Yes.

07:28Knowing that the entire world except from maybe two or three countries are part of Interpol.

07:33And Paul Watson is not out of the clear completely since that red notice is still up.

07:42There are some countries he may go to where he'll have a nasty surprise at the port or

07:45at the airport.

07:47As long as the red notice is in the system, he could be arrested when crossing borders

07:54if checked because an alert will come up on the screen.

07:59Then once that is out, he's good to travel, but he is also, I imagine, good now to travel

08:08to friendly countries, which would give him assurances that he would not face arrest.

08:15And obviously, we now know for sure that he could go to the US because the US has been

08:21helping us.

08:22And he can come to France because France never arrested him.

08:27And a few days after his arrest, the LEC took a very clear position against him being arrested.

08:36So for sure he can come here, and I think he intends to.

08:41For sure he can travel to the US.

08:43And I'm very confident that in the weeks, months coming, we will get a favorable decision

08:48from Interpol and he will be totally cleared.

08:51Have you or your team been speaking with him?

08:53He won't be going to Japan.

08:54He won't be going to Japan.

08:55Have you or your team been speaking with him today?

08:57We saw that video clip of him earlier.

08:59Have you personally?

09:00No.

09:01Sadly not.

09:02And I wanted to leave him, have some time with his family, which is obviously, I think,

09:08the first thing he wanted to do.

09:10We'll get a chance to speak to him, I imagine, shortly.

09:14William Jullier, many thanks for coming in.

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