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Labour delighted Pete Bethune is coming home
Labour delighted Pete Bethune is coming home
Labour’s Conservation Spokesperson Chris Carter has welcomed this afternoon’s news that Kiwi environmental activist Pete Bethune has been given a suspended sentence by the Japanese court, so will be coming home to New Zealand very soon.
“I am a longstanding critic of Japan’s whaling policy,” Chris Carter said. “However I applaud the Japanese justice system for its humane approach, which has recognised that Peter pleaded guilty to the charges he was facing in Tokyo but has not acted like a terrorist or a hijacker.
“The Labour Party has consistently said that Peter Bethune is an environmental activist. He may not have been wise in boarding the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru II which collided with is boat, the Ady Gil. However his reasons for doing so, in seeking compensation for his sunk vessel, and his desire to highlight Japanese whaling were the actions of a protestor not a terrorist.
“I intend to meet with Peter Bethune when he returns to New Zealand to hear his story and to discuss our mutual concerns about the continued Japanese whaling programme in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary,” Mr Carter said.
ENDS
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