Spain’s Greenpeace boss to spend Christmas in jail

December 23, 2009  •  Lead, National News  •  0 Comments

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THE boss of Spanish Greenpeace will be spending the festive period in a cold Danish cell, after being arrested at the Copenhagen Climate summit.

Juan Lopez de Uralde was arrested as he, and another activist, unfurled a banner drawing attention to the urgency of getting an agreement at a Royal gala dinner for world leaders 24 hours before the summit closed.

Now the Spanish government has stepped in to try to get his release before a court hearing on January 7.

A spokesman for Greenpeace described the imprisonment in solitary confinement as completely “disproportionate”.

“It seems extreme, unfair and disproportionate that he is in prison for defending the climate,” said campaign director Mario Rodriguez Vargas.

“It is shameful that he is held in isolation and only has contact with his lawyer, not even his family. We only know about him through the Spanish embassy,” he added.

Uralde had bypassed security at Christiansborg Palace, and unfurled a banner that read simply: “the politicians talk, the leaders act” before being arrested by police.

Catastrophic

Another 19 Greenpeace activists were arrested hours before as they tried to hang a banner with the same slogan adjacent to the Bella Centre congress hall.

Greenpeace meanwhile, totally rejected the accord. A statement read: “The city of Copenhagen is a climate crime scene tonight, with the guilty men and women [referring to Obama and Clinton and their entourage] fleeing to the airport in shame.

World leaders had a once in a generation chance to change the world for good, to avert catastrophic climate change. In the end they produced a poor deal full of loopholes big enough to fly Air Force One through.”

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