The Criminal Appeals Court of the Second Judicial Circuit of San José dropped all charges against Paul Watson, bringing an end to a legal dispute that lasted 17 years.
Captain Paul Watson
On March 12th, the Criminal Appeals Court of the Second Judicial Circuit
of San José dropped all charges against Paul Watson, bringing an end to a
legal dispute that lasted 17 years.
In 2002, Captain Paul Watson and the crew of the Ocean Warrior fled to
international waters following an altercation with an illegal shark finning
vessel. Sea Shepherd’s presence was originally requested by the Costa Rican
government to assist in protecting the extraordinarily biodiverse waters of
the Eastern Tropical Pacific Corridor.
While patrolling, our vessel located a ship that was caught illegally
finning sharks. The Varadero 1 ignored several orders to stop and continued
their illegal operations, forcing Sea Shepherd to intervene. After running
into their ship, the crew of the Varadero retaliated by filing several
accusations against Sea Shepherd, including ship endangerment and attempted
murder.
Despite the clear proof of events shown in the documentary “Sharkwater”,
which was filmed during this campaign, Costa Rica continued to pursue legal
action against Paul Watson. This prevented him from returning to port in
Costa Rica, resulting in the sudden departure of himself and the crew.
For the past 13 years, Captain Paul Watson had an international warrant out
for his arrest, which harmed our relationship with the Costa Rican
government. With the decision to drop the charges, the current government
has given clear signs of support and interest to resume cooperating with Sea
Shepherd.
Captain Paul Watson is excited about the future, here he states, “During all
of these years, my sincere desire has always been to protect, together with
Costa Rican people, the beautiful natural sanctuary that is the Isla del
Coco, and other endangered areas linked to the Marine Corridor of the
Eastern Tropical Pacific. I hope that, now, with this dismissal of these
charges against me, we can make it a reality.”
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