Greenpeace 28 on trial
The trial of 28 Greenpeace volunteers charged with criminal damage and theft started today at Norwich Crown Court. The charges arise from an action in July last year when the volunteers were arrested while preventing a crop of GM maize in Lyng, Norfolk, from flowering. The volunteers were placing the crops in bags with the intention of returning the sealed crop to its owner Agrevo (now renamed Aventis) when arrested.
The case began at 10.30am today with the selection and swearing in of the jury and the opening speech by the prosecution. Mr John Farmer, acting on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, began the prosecution's case by arguing that the case should not be seen as a political or scientific debate. The farmer concerned was acting lawfully, he said, and the defendants had gathered from all over the United Kingdom in order to conduct the action.
The contents of a letter from Peter Melchett, Executive Director of Greenpeace, to W J Brigham, the farmer who grew the GM crop, was read in court. The letter outlined the high level of local and national concern over GM crops and expressed regret that Brigham had not attended a public meeting in Lyng where the hazards posed by his crop had been discussed. The letter concluded that "I do hope in all circumstances you will see the need for this crop to be removed before flowering".
The first witness for the prosecution was Ms Judith Jordan, product development manager with Aventis. She explained that the crop belonged to Aventis but there was a contract with Brigham to plant and manage the maize until harvest. The crop was intended to be used as part of an experiment by government (called farmscale trials) examining the impact of managing GM crops on wildlife.
Under cross examination by Owen Davies QC, counsel for the defence, Ms Jordan conceded that the trials were being conducted to examine direct impacts on wildlife rather than examining the impact of cross pollination on the wider environment. Ms Jordan acknowledged that the migration of GM pollen from crops was a concern. Mr Davies asked whether pollen could travel further than the 50m separation gap adopted by Aventis, Ms Jordan conceded that it could. She didn't know whether pollen could travel a distance of miles.
Ms Jordan was asked if the data collected at the trial at Walnut Tree Farm would be used for the subsequent 3 years of trials but admitted that she did not know. She was also asked if she could assess the loss to independent scientific work (in a monetary sense) but again conceded that she could not.
The second prosecution witness, was W J Brigham, farmer at Walnut Tree Farm. He described the farm and its activities and then related the events of 26 July 1999 when he had come across the volunteers engaged in sealing up the GM maize in bags.
Brigham agreed that he had been invited to the meeting in Lyng on 10th July which had been called to discuss his GM crop but said that he had been strongly advised by Agrevo not to attend. He also agreed that he had received to the letter from Peter Melchett concerning the GM crop but said that he was too busy respond. Brigham accepted that there were many other non-GM maize fields in the vicinity of his farm. Brigham also admitted that at the time of the action the crop had been close to flowering and releasing pollen.
The third prosecution witness was Police Sergeant Michael Chipperfield of Norfolk Constabulary. He described the scene of the action when he arrived and how he and his colleagues had arrested many of the defendants. The sergeant also described a conversation with a defendant shortly after the events in the field. The sergeant had said that the defendants had received a great deal of publicity for their actions and that this was what they wanted. The defendant disagreed and replied that the event was not aboutpublicity and that they had simply taken action to prevent environmental pollution. The sergeant also agreeed under cross examination that he had heard other defendants express similar sentiments during the events in the field.
The prosecution case ends tomorrow morning and the defence case will begin with Peter Melchett giving evidence.
