Trials of Trident Ploughshares 2000 activists are already scheduled in Helensburgh between now and the end of March. A fresh crop of arrests will begin to flow from the 10th November when the next week-long disarmament camp at Coulport begins. The Scottish courts are facing a log-jam of peace activists, and courts across the UK will be put on their mettle as the disarmers give their attention to the 37 other Trident-related sites nation-wide.
The Pinochet affair has shown that we are beginning to accept the need to have an overarching global system of law, based on humanitarian principles, to which all individual citizens are accountable. This is the issue which was put to the test in Helensburgh District Court on 26 October as Helen Harris, Marilyn Croser and Ellen Moxley appeared on charges arising from the Trident Ploughshares direct disarmament camp in August. Marilyn and Helen cut a hole in the perimeter fence at Coulport and were aiming to damage the installations inside. Ellen had taken part in a blockade of the Faslane base and had been chained to the gate.
All three defended themselves on the basis that the Trident nuclear system was illegal under international law and that they were acting to prevent crime. Ellen pointed out that the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, by which Trident is unlawful, was not mere advice but was an authoritative interpretation of how established codes of humanitarian law on the conduct of warfare applied to nuclear weapons.
During his summing up the Procurator Fiscal used a bizarre argument saying that just because his pen could theoretically be used to write poison pen letters, his possession of it did not imply he would threaten to use it in that manner. This was apparently an attempted analogy for Trident missiles. People in court were left racking their brains to work out what other purpose Trident missiles could serve, other than to threaten annihilation or actually to carry it out.
Although JP Stirling admitted that his grasp of international law was fallible, he still felt sure enough of his ground to find all three guilty and to fine them. For Marilyn and Helen the fines amounted to 225 pounds each while Ellen was fined 150 pounds. All three have made it clear that they have no intention of paying.