July 21, 2023

The mood was deadly, super seriously somber as David Michel stepped into the Torshaven courtroom. This was Thor’s House after all, and the specter of Nordic justice was all pervasive.

The people of the Faroe Islands had never seen a crime as egregious as this, well at least not since the last time we were here.

After all, the crew of the JOHN PAUL DEJORIA had violated the sensitive and sacred territorial waters of the Danish Faroe Islands and the crime was exceedingly deplorable.

According to Prosecutor Katrin Thorsvig Hansen, Neptune’s Navy crew had willfully, knowingly, entered Faroese waters for the insidious objective of trying to stop the horrific mass slaughter of defenseless pilot whales.

We were unable to retain a lawyer because not a single lawyer in the Faroes or in Denmark would represent us. After all, our crime was so morally reprehensible that even the lawyers were traumatized by the thought of representing us. 

The court appointed a lawyer named Bjørn Á Heygum. He seemed to take his duties seriously and professional and seemed unconcerned with our legal ostracism. 

Bjørn tried his best but the cards were stacked from the beginning. In a press conference after the three-hour trial, Bjørn said: ‘They admit that they were not 100% sure the client received the summons.” (We did not). 

What is the point of serving a summons if the case can go to court without a summons?

However, a little detail like that was not going to deter Katrin. Nor the fact that she did not know who the Captain was. It was myself, but they did not accept that, choosing instead to blame First Mate Dan Binyon.

When the media asked if it was unusual to represent clients not in court, Bjorn said, “I am not used to that, it is hardly ever the case.” Bjørn said he would file an appeal soon.

Katrin Thorsvig, the prosecutor, was excited, prepared, and aggressive. A victory over this case of these immoral and sinful saviors of whales, the scourge of the Grindadrap, would be a nice feather in the cap of her legal career. She was as legally blood thirsty for a guilty verdict as the Faroese whalers are blood thirsty in their lust driven drive to torture and maim.

None of the crew were served nor even informed of the nature of the charge or charges against us.

We had one member on shore who did attend the Faroese trial of the century and that was Connecticut member for the 146th District to the Connecticut General Assembly, David Michel.

It was difficult for David to follow the proceedings. He was told that there would be no translator.

 “As a legislator, I am astonished that you can accept charges and run a full trial, or a kangaroo court within a week and a half of these charge without allowing for adequate representation in a trial. Even if the defendants are not there, considering this is an “international” case, not having a translator is a joke, for the record”.

We had requested a stay of the trial until such time that we could secure proper council. Our request was denied.

David Michel noted, “What stands out is that the police running the trial, are themselves involved in the Grind, making it a direct conflict of interest. They are the perpetrator, prosecutor and executor.”

The result was predictable. Guilty as charged on all counts and a fine of 157,000 Danish Krone. This converts to $23,400 U.S. dollars. The prosecutor had called for a fine of 207,000 Danish Krone or $31,000. The lawyer was able to get this reduced. 

Pretty hefty fine for an act of compassion. No one was injured, there was no property damage. Nothing was stolen. But of course, what could we expect?

There has never been a case of Grind interference where the defendants were found not guilty.

Interference with the almost religiously barbaric tradition of the Grindadrap is a super, super serious offense on the Ferocious Isles.

The Faroes police have a very poor record in solving crimes, so they were nervously anxious for an easy victory to distract from their failures.

Last year Prosecutor Katrin made this comment:

“There are many reasons why police do not solve all such cases,” says chief police prosecutor Katrin Thorsvig Hansen in a recent interview.

“The most common reasons are a lack of witnesses and that too much alcohol is involved for any meaningful investigative work to take place.”

Was she saying that the police are too drunk to properly investigate crimes? Just our blooming luck to get a trio of sober cops.

How does the Faroes stand on more serious cases? 

Let’s look at rape where the Faroese are much more lenient to the rapist than in Denmark.

The Faroese coercion provision states that a sexual act must be done by coercion, violence, physical force or threat of violence or physical force for the act to count as rape.

Rape is punishable by up to eight years in prison. However, in most Faroese rape cases, sentences range between eight months and two-and-a-half years.

Let’s look at murder, admittedly not as serious as interfering with the Grind.

In 2014, a 36-year-old man was stabbed multiple times in the throat. The killer had the book thrown at him in the Danish court with a whopping punishment of a 13-year sentence. Probably out of prison by now, it being only 9 years. He was lucky he did not kill a whaler. That would have seen a much harsher penalty in a mercury brain scrambled pseudo-nation that worships atrocities against non-humans and justifies the most depraved acts of sadistic violence.

The Faroes have the Danish courts to do their dirty work for them.

 It’s incredible that the killing of whales and dolphins is illegal in Denmark but the Danish courts in the Faroes aggressively defend the slaughter under Danish law as they do nothing to stop the abuse of children forced to consume toxic whale meat. If children in Denmark were found to be eating methyl-mercury contaminated pork, the pork producers would be shut down in a Copenhagen minute.

In 2016, the Danish Parliament unanimously decided to double the maximum penalty for serious cases of animal cruelty. Serious neglect, violence and other forms of animal abuse will be punishable by up to two years in prison. Fines for the seriously irresponsible handling of pets and other animals in private ownership was increased from 5,000 to 10,000 kroner. Abuse of livestock and animals used in other types of businesses can be fined by up to 20,000 kroner instead of the current maximum of 10,000. Compare these meager fines to our 123,000 Krone fine for merely passing through Faroese territorial waters.

Not a single whale killer in the Faroese has ever been fined or jailed for abuse of dolphins, however a few years ago, our crew were found guilty and fined for cruelty to animals by causing stress the whales that were being driven to shore to be slaughtered.

On January 1st, 2021 Denmark passed a new animal welfare law that recognizes that all animals are sentient. The law authorized the Minister of Food to set specific rules for ALL species, from pets to millions of farmed animals. Denmark proudly announced that this made Denmark a “true leader in the international animal welfare movement.”

It seems the message did not reach the Danish court, the Danish Prosecutor or the Danish Judge in the Danish Faroe Islands.

Photo:  David Michel, Connecticut House of Representative member for the 146th District of Connecticut

#animalwelfare #CPWF #cpwfuk #faroeislands #Grindadrap #animalrights