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Our argument is very straightforward. Nuclear weapons are weaons of mass destruction and thus cannot be used with any precision or any pretence at righting any wrong. It is basically mass murder on a catastrophic scale with the potential for escalation to the use of thousands of nuclear weapons, which could put an end to all life on earth. Law is based on morality and is respected in so far and only in so far, as it conforms to common human morality. Governments, soldiers and armed forces gain their legitimacy and power from the law. What distinguishes a soldier from a common murderer is that he has been given legal permission to undertake certain kinds of killing on behalf of society. This legalized killing is carefully controlled by laws – the most important of which are international humanitarian laws, which outlaw discriminate mass murder. We are not ashamed but proud that our message can be understood by a five year old. This is our message – killing is wrong. Mass killing is wrong. Threatening mass destruction is a denial of our own humanity and is suicidal. When something is wrong we have to stop it. Trident is wrong and so we must stop it. Dismantling the machinery of destruction is thus a practical act of love. excerpted from The Legal Battle at Greenock At no time did we deny the damage caused to the equipment on Maytime that was listed in the indictment. At all times we consistently maintained that our acts were justified because we were trying to prevent preparations for indiscriminate attack and that we were upholding international and Scots law. The prosecutor spent two weeks itemizing all the damage and showing a video of starfish draped artistically over computers 61 metres below the laboratory. He put forward a very simple case proving what we had never denied in the first place – that we were on Maytime and had done all the damage itemised.
The Sheriff began her ruling and soon the tears were streaming down our faces as, to the obvious delight of the jury and our supporters, she directed the jury to acquit us… by saying, ‘I have heard nothing which would make it seem to me that the accused acted with… criminal intent.’ The media had a field day. ‘Outcry
as Sheriff rules nuclear weapons illegal.’ [The Scotsman – 22/10/99] The one I like best, although I wish it were really true, was |
excerpted from 
excerpted from The Acquittal