A crown office spokesman said:
"In reaching his decision the Lord Advocate, Lord Hardie, considered a report from the procurator-fiscal at Dunoon after Sheriff Margaret Gimblett directed a jury to acquit Angela Zelter, Bodil Roder and Ellen Moxley"
This "Referal" is a request for an authoritative ruling on the law on this matter from the High Court. It is very unusual for the Lord Advocate to take this step and this has only happened a few times before. It is not an appeal against the acquittal as such but it is seeking clarification of the law. Three High Court judges will consider the case. The timescale is at the moment unclear.
A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said:
"We are delighted that the Lord Advocate has not run away from this one. We have been looking forward to the day when the legality of Trident would be properly debated at this level. We are ready to demonstrate again that Britain's nuclear weapons system is utterly irreconcilable with the principles of international humanitarian law."