LOCAL COURT SEIZING UP UNDER PRESSURE FROM PEACE ACTIVISTS

As the Scotland's highest court prepares next week to discuss the right of citizens to take disarmament action against the UK's nuclear weapons system, an unmanageable backlog of cases against activists is threatening to completely clog up the local court which is nearest to the nuclear weapon bases on the Clyde.

On 4th October 24 cases against Trident Ploughshares activists, including 6 trials, were before Helensburgh District Court. All the trials, including that of MSP Tommy Sheridan, were further adjourned for a variety of reasons. Two of the trials had to be rescheduled due to the lack of disability access to the court, affecting the accused in one case and two witnesses in another case. It had been intended to hold these two trials in the nearby and accessible Victoria Halls but that building has recently suffered a collapsed ceiling.

40 trials are still in the pipeline and these only deal with the arrests as far as February this year. Reports relating to the 161 arrests at the August blockade and disarmament camp are still before the Procurator Fiscal. The backlog is in spite of the fact that the court now has three sittings per month rather than the normal single sitting.

A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "The local Procurator Fiscal has stubbornly continued to send our cases to the local court which basically cannot cope. Our cases take more time, because our defences are thoroughly prepared and presented. The issues that we raise are complex, frequently involving International Law and the European Convention on Human Rights, and neither the Procurator not the Justices of the Peace have the necessary expertise. Lets hope that the High Court can rise to the challenge."

Note: Starting 9th October in the High Court in Edinburgh the hearing of the Lord Advocate's Reference of the judgment of Sheriff Gimblett in Greenock Sheriff Court last October when she acquitted the Trident Three. Full briefing available.