Dec 18, 2016

Nuclear power is becoming more expensive for opponents of nuclear power!

Press release for immediate publication

OLG rejects revision -
Unusually high verdict for anti-nuclear chain action final

In the summer of 2012, a chaining action and a climbing action blocked the railway line between Münster (Westphalia) and the uranium enrichment plant in Gronau. The OLG Hamm has now confirmed the unusually high penalties of 90 and 110 daily rates of the Münster district court for the chaining action.

While the proceedings because of the climbing action were discontinued after a short time, the two people who were chained at the time were convicted of "disrupting public operations" before the Steinfurt district court and on appeal before the Münster district court. The appeal filed against the judgment in December 2015 has now been rejected by the Hamm Higher Regional Court. The decision of the regional court, according to which the two chained people were sentenced to 90 and 110 daily rates of 15 euros each, i.e. 1350 euros and 1650 euros, respectively, is now final.

In the now confirmed judgment of the regional court, it is allegedly mitigating the punishment that the accused can only be attributed a disturbance within a period of about two hours. On the contrary, the penalty imposed is the highest penalty to date that has been confirmed by higher courts for such an action in German-speaking countries. For example, those involved in a chaining action on a concrete block under the rails in Wendland were sentenced to fines between 16 and 35 daily rates, despite a 40-hour delay in transport, and a chaining action on the ICE main line between Hamburg and Hanover with a two-hour delay also resulted in a conviction of 40 daily rates after yourself. Other comparable proceedings were discontinued in return for monetary restrictions.

"From our point of view, on the one hand, the court wanted to punish the resistance against the uranium enrichment plant, which is still running indefinitely, and to deter active people against it. On the other hand, we see in this decision the answer of the court to our litigation", said the convicted Hanna Poddig. With numerous motions, the defendants had tried in vain to induce the court to deal with the dangers of uranium transports and nuclear facilities.

The train carried over 400 tons of uranium hexafluoride. This toxic substance reacts with water to form hydrofluoric acid, which in turn can form fatal poison gas clouds even in small quantities and cause severe burns. In Germany, too, there are frequent train accidents and the waste produced in Gronau is jointly responsible for a significantly increased number of cancer cases at one of its current storage locations in Angarsk, Russia. However, the court rejected all of the motions submitted on this topic as meaningless, only to then, in contradiction to this, simply claim in the judgment that there was no apparent danger from the specific uranium hexafluoride transport. This fact was also pointed out in the revision that has now been rejected.

"What we see once again clearly confirmed with this decision is that we obviously cannot rely on the courts at any point to avert the dangers of the nuclear facilities. On the contrary: The courts are one of the state institutions that are meant when we hear about You are just as responsible for the continued operation of nuclear facilities as the police, who stop protests, "said a trial observer. "If you want to phase out nuclear power, you have to take action yourself".

Contact: Hanna Poddig, 0175/9767027, urantransporte@noirgenwo.info

Further information

- to the process below nowhere.info/steinfurt

- to uranium transports below urantransport.de

- to the nuclear facilities in Muensterland sofa-ms.de

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Further to: Newspaper article 2016

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