“France would honor itself by granting” asylum to Paul Watson, says lawyer William Bourdon

“France would honor itself by granting this asylume”, declared Thursday 17 October on franceinfo William Bourdon, criminal lawyer at the Paris bar and founding president of the Sherpa association. Paul Watson, opponent of whaling and detained for three months in Greenland, Emmanuel Macron, the NGO requested political asylum, Sea Shepherd France announced on Wednesday.

“LThe Republic can grant asylum to the great freedom fighter at any time. She can, she must“, says the lawyer. According to him, “Paul Watson is part of the so-called great freedom fighters who can benefit from constitutional asylum“.

Japan calls for extradition of Canadian environmental activist: “We are on another dimension, new, unprecedented, which is to resist eco-criminalization, to use this catastrophic term from Darmanin“, assesses William Bourdon. The Home Secretary had spoken of ‘ecoterrorism“about the demonstrations against the Sainte-Soline megabasins.”Europe cannot at the same time protect whistleblowers, encourage them, protect the disobedient (…) celebrate them, celebrate them and at the same time somehow be complicit in a demand aimed at punishing Paul Watson for his work to benefit to humanity“, says Master William Bourdon.

Accepting political asylum from France would, for Paul Watson, remove the risk of extradition to Japan: “There is a basic principle which is that when you enjoy political asylum, it provides protection against any extradition request, except of course for the most serious crimes.“, explains the lawyer.