Greenpeace Statement on Revised Indictment

"The Justice Department today forced Greenpeace back into court to be arraigned a second time on the exact same charges. The sole reason: The government has now abandoned its claim that Greenpeace was wrong about the presence of contraband mahogany wood on the ship that Greenpeace activists boarded. We hope the government will soon admit that not just one sentence in its indictment but the entire prosecution is invalid.

"Across the country, leading organizations, legal scholars, and citizens are calling this prosecution -- the first time in U.S. history that the government has indicted an entire organization for the free speech activities of its supporters -- unprecedented, troubling, and vindictive.


"In a speech earlier this week, former Vice President Al Gore called the prosecution ‘highly disturbing’ and said it ‘appears to be aimed at inhibiting Greenpeace’s First Amendment activities.’ The ACLU, People For the American Way, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups this week filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of Greenpeace. The Miami Herald recently wrote, ‘This indictment is a puzzlement…There seems no point to it beyond vindictiveness toward a group that riles the administration. Is this the best use of federal law-enforcement resources? Is it selective prosecution?…The case should be closed….’

"The original indictment stated that, on April 12, 2002, activists boarded the M/V APL Jade ‘based upon [Greenpeace’s] erroneous belief that the M/V APL Jade carried a shipment of Brazilian mahogany lumber.’ Greenpeace subsequently demonstrated, through papers filed in court, that its ‘belief’ was anything but erroneous: on April 14, 2002, after leaving Miami, the Jade unloaded tons of Brazilian mahogany at Charleston. So the government has decided to abandon its false allegation.

"This is not a trivial issue. It goes to the heart of the case. Greenpeace activists boarded the Jade with a banner reading ‘President Bush: Stop Illegal Logging.’ Their purpose was to spur authorities to search the ship and seize the mahogany, whose importation violated U.S. law. Instead, the authorities arrested the Greenpeace activists and, amazingly, did nothing to halt the mahogany smuggling.

"The government’s failure to stop smuggling even where the evidence was handed to it demonstrates the importance of Greenpeace’s campaign to protect the Amazon. Just as Rosa Parks’ failure to retreat to the back of the bus was a more effective protest against racism than a simple picket at the bus stop, the Greenpeace action off Miami -- and comparable Greenpeace protests around the world -- are needed to shine a spotlight on Amazon destruction. These actions helped influence nations to reach a November 2002 agreement to provide greater protection for mahogany. Instead of putting Greenpeace on trial, the U.S