At Norwich Magistrates Court today (20th September 1999), twenty eight Greenpeace volunteers who took action to stop a GM maize crop in Norfolk from irreversibly polluting the environment were committed to trial by jury. The trial will take place at Norwich Crown Court.
The twenty eight volunteers have pleaded 'not guilty' to charges of theft and criminal damage that were brought against them for taking non-violent direct action at Lyng in Norfolk, on July 26th 1999, against a farm-scale 'trial' of GM maize, conducted by agrochemical company AgrEvo.
London -- Following an appeal against a Magistrate's decision to refuse bail yesterday, a Judge at Norwich Crown Court has granted Lord Peter Melchett bail.
Twenty Eight Greenpeace volunteers, including Lord Peter Melchett, being held in police custody for decontaminating a genetically modified (GM) farm-scale trial are appearing in Norwich Magistrates Court today. Before adjourning for lunch, the Magistrate denied Lord Melchett bail until August 5th, the remaining 27 will be heard after lunch.
The 28 are being charged with criminal damage and theft and will plead not guilty. Greenpeace Campaign Director Sarah Burton explained that this issue is about the defence of public rights. She said, "the public has the right to a safe environment and food-chain free from GM contamination. If the authorities, in this case the Government, fail to uphold those rights it is legitimate for others to do so. We took urgent action to defend those public rights."
At 5.15am today a Greenpeace decontamination unit removed genetically modified (GM) pollution from the third farm-scale experiment to be disrupted in the UK over the last eight weeks.
The six acre GM maize (1) site at Lyng in Norfolk, due to flower in one week, was partially decontaminated by 30 peaceful Greenpeace volunteers with the help of a farm mower. Removing the crop down to its roots, the maize was then bagged up to contain the contamination.
