COCHEM, Germany, June 10, 2020 — Three peace activists were convicted of ‘damage to property’ and ‘trespass’ for their part in a July 15, 2018 protest at the Büchel Air Force Base in west-central Germany, where the United States Air Force deploys 20 hydrogen bombs. The trial of Marion Küpker, of Hamburg, Germany Stephanie Augustine, of Dortmund, Germany and Margriet Bos, of Amsterdam, Netherlands was the latest in a series of trials resulting from a long-running campaign of nonviolent resistance directed against the threatened use of the US nuclear bombs. District Judge Andre Zimmermann sentenced Küpker, Bos and Augustine to fines ranging between 1,200 and 300 Euros, or to a possible 30 days in jail for refusing to pay.

The regional paper Rhein-Zeitung reported, “The three women entered the Büchel air base together with a total of 18 people during an international protest week,” July 15, 2018. The protest was aimed at US nuclear weapons used at the NATO base where the Luftwaffe’s Tornado fighter jet pilots from Germany’s 33rd Tactical Air Force Wing train to drop the US nuclear weapons which are maintained there by the US Air Force’s 702^nd Munitions Support Squadron. The widely reported mid-summer action saw five separate openings cut in the base’s chain link fence, through which the 18 resisters entered in small groups unhindered, in broad daylight, on a Sunday morning. One person got through in a wheel chair, and another entered using crutches.

In court, Küpker took the time to read her 10-page personal statement explaining her motive and intention for taking the action. Küpker, the coordinator of Nonviolent Action to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and a staff member with the German Fellowship of Reconciliation, also read the 11-page formal declaration of Anabel Dwyer, a retired attorney and law school lecturer from Michigan. German legal process requires that documents be read aloud in court, not just submitted in writing, to become part of the trial record.

Küpker told the court in part, “I would like to make a comparison here: If a judge or prosecutor held children on his heavily fenced and armed property (garden) and I became aware of it and, despite intensive disclosure of this illegal activity, the responsible state organs could not be persuaded to intervene, I would. I would have no concern about cutting open their fences and entering this garden together with others. If the courts then view this intrusion only as trespassing and property damage, they become accomplices and henchmen of kidnappers. Even if I find gardens without fences more beautiful, I would only be interested in intervening in the event of such a justifying emergency.” Kupker intends to appeal the conviction.

“The storage of the approx. 20 nuclear weapons in Büchel and the practice and preparation of their use by German pilots — and in the NATO alliance — violate the human right to health. These Büchel atomic bombs enable the practical continuation of ‘nuclear participation’ in Germany. For this illegal nuclear weapons deployment in Germany, the production of atomic bombs was necessary, which has caused and continues to cause serious health damage to all people in our world,” Küpker said.

In her statement to the court, Margriet Bos said in part, “I believe that my actions and the actions of every human being can have great effects. That’s another reason I entered Büchel Air Base, hoping to draw attention to the suffering being prepared there. And I will not remain silent as long as I believe that things can be done differently. That’s why I went to Büchel Air Base, and that’s why I asked you to hear me today.”

At the base pilots of Germany’s the 33rd Tactical Air Force Wing train using their PA-200 Tornado jet fighters to detonate the US H-bombs against areas in Russia if so ordered by a US president. The base is home to the US Air Force’s 702 Munitions Support Squadron which maintains the Cold War-era free-fall “dumb” nuclear bombs — set to be replaced in the coming years with a new, more accurate H-bomb.

Seven of the 18 who joined the July 15 “go-in” action were from a US delegation to the “International Week” organized by Nukewatch in the US and GAAA (Nonviolent Action to Abolish Nuclear Weapons) in Germany. Only two of the seven, Dennis DuVall formerly of Prescott, Arizona and John LaForge of Luck, Wisconsin have been issued similar charges for the action. DuVall was convicted of the same in a May 11 trial in Cochem. ############

STEFANIE AUGUSTIN

Statement at the court process in Cochem from June, 10, 2020

As a reason for my behaviour I want to speak about following treaties:

Two Plus Four Treaty from 1990: On September, 12, 1990, the two German states along with Russia, England, France and the U.S., signed the Two-Plus-Four Treaty. Article 3 says: The Governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic reaffirm their renunciation of the manufacture and possession of and control over nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. They declare that the united Germany, too, will abide by these commitments. In particular, rights and obligations arising from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1 July 1968 will continue to apply to the united Germany.

What does that mean? The German government continues to act against these laws, because they agree with “nuclear participation” and exercise power of control over the nuclear weapons deployed in Büchel. Every pilot could confidently follow the order to throw the bombs. That means the German government acts against the 2 plus 4-treaty.

NPT-treaty of 1968: Article 2 says: Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly; not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices; and not to seek or receive any assistance in the manufacture of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.

What does that mean? Germany belongs to the states with no ownership about nuclear weapons. That means, the deployment of nuclear weapons infringes against the treaty of counter-proliferation against nuclear weapons. The German government infringes their obligations of the NPT-treaty.

Now some about my personal background: At the beginning of the ‘80s, last century, there was a big peace movement. My husband who died 2016 was part of this movement. I was glad when I heard of the INF-treaty in 1987, when the United States and Russia destroyed most of their [intermediate-range] nuclear weapons. This was a good beginning. It would have been even better finally, if all weapons from all over the world, not just nuclear, had been banished forever. Unfortunately, today there is a new danger of nuclear war, especially because of the unpredictable U.S. President D. Trump who canceled the INF-treaty while Russia followed.

Today the peace movement is much smaller than in the 1980s. So, in my opinion political action to reach our aims must be more radical than vigils and demonstrations.

I appreciate that the international peace organization ICAN got the Nobel Prize of peace in 2017, but in my view the demands of ICAN should also be implemented. That means prohibition of nuclear weapons and their abolition. Germany should sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons soon, and the nuclear weapons in Büchel should be abolished and NOT replaced by new ones.

Worldwide every day thousands of people die from hunger. It cannot be honest, that under these circumstances so much money is invested in defense. Besides, here in Germany we have not enough money for nursery and other social sectors. Because of the fatal ecological situation of the world, there should much more money invested in ecological projects.

In 2017 and 2018 I visited the international peace camp in Büchel and I got to know about the disastrous health problems of indigenous people in the United States as a consequence of uranium mining. And I heard about health problems of workers in nuclear weapons´ industry.

Finally I think nobody ever wants a nuclear war. The consequences would not be imaginable and finally all life on earth would be in danger. Compared to this danger, what is the damage I made by my action of civil disobedience? I have two godchildren and I do voluntary work with refugee children. So, I am in sorrow about the future of children living today and about future generations. Such an inferno would not only affect my friends and relatives but also the soldiers in Büchel, the policemen who reported me, as well as court staff and their friends and relatives. That means I also want to protect you and everybody you know. Please choose a judgment of “acquittal,” and engage yourself, too, for the final abolition of nuclear weapons!

Statement Margriet Bos
10^th June 2020
Court of Cochem, Germany

I’ve told you a little about myself before. I am not a special person. I am just a human being. I don’t own the truth.
I can’t tell if a few years from now I’d do the same thing again.

I don’t regret entering the airbase because I was hoping to create a frustration for a place where death and destruction are being prepared. It was the right step for me. I acted from my conscience and conviction and had the intention to do the right thing and I acted nonviolently.

In recent years, I have become increasingly convinced that all life on earth is connected. Not only do all people form one big human family, we are connected to nature in the same intimate way. Although the living world can do well without people, the other way around is certainly not possible. (Although the human species is the only one who is hardly aware of this, I believe…). In fact, without us, forests, oceans and rivers would probably not be in such a terrible state.

The connection, I think, comes from the fact that we all have the same creator, who creates from an infinite love and enjoys beauty and joy.

That’s why it seems to me that only love can help us forward. Love creates space. Love celebrates diversity. And from this comes that no human being has the right to kill or threaten another human being, whoever this human being may be. And planning to kill people [is] exactly what happens at Büchel Air Base, and that’s why I tried to disrupt the normal course of events there and draw attention to it.

The production, preparation, threat or use of nuclear weapons in any way goes against the power of love from which and for which we were created. Allow me to briefly explain the problem with nuclear weapons.

In the process of producing nuclear weapons, all means are allowed to obtain the necessary minerals. People are being [expelled] from their land, and their sacred sites dishonoured; drinking water is being seriously polluted, making people sick and disrupting ecosystems. [The process] sows death and destruction, already in the first stage of building these immoral weapons. In the factories where atomic bombs are built, the number of sick workers is exceptionally high. Working with the raw materials and processing them spoils nature AND humankind, even before the weapons are ready and used as weapons. The threat — mentioned as the most important means of having nuclear weapons — sows fear and distrust and builds walls between people. It [the threat] is a major impediment to resolving conflicts without violence or threat of violence. It puts constant pressure on international relations.

Finally, there is the actual deployment of atomic bombs — a weapon that makes no distinction between soldiers and civilians. Everyone is hit in one big blow. And then decades later in smaller big waves of destruction.

On 6 August 1945, the world saw the devastating power of nuclear weapons. Relief is virtually impossible, [unavailable] because of the scale of destruction. In Hiroshima and Nagasaki, even today, 75 years later, the effects of the nuclear attacks are still being felt. According to the Red Cross, 390,000 people are still struggling daily with the aftermath of the nuclear attacks on Japan.

The atomic bombs lying on Büchel exceed the force of the bombs that fell on Japan many times over. Not to mention the countless tests in which radiation — with its sickening effect and destruction also —  took place and people died.  In addition, all released radiation affects ecosystems and people for a long time. A chain of death. Nothing but death.

The oceans of money invested in the development, manufacture, and maintenance of nuclear weapons are taken from things that benefit us as human beings.

How much easier would the road to sustainable, nonviolent peace be if we harnessed these resources for diplomacy, the cultivation of connection and peace, education in nonviolent communication, and a fairer distribution of the good we get from this earth?

These weapons of mass destruction are too big for us humans. They don’t fit us. We can’t oversee the disastrous consequences. None of us, including world leaders who currently control them. They’re inhuman, unmanageable, immoral and illegal, according to human and divine law.

Although you, judge Zimmermann, have heard it several times and this will not be the last time this is said, I would like to mention here for the sake of completeness that the international Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 is violated by the presence of atomic bombs on Büchel. According to this treaty, the US is not allowed to have nuclear weapons in Germany (Art. II) and Germany is not allowed to receive nuclear weapons from the US (Art. I).

The Geneva Conventions prohibit indiscriminate attacks on non-combatants, attacks on neutral states and damage to the environment that lasts longer than the conflict. The Hague Peace Agreement prohibits any use of poison or poisonous weapons. Both Germany and the US are part of all these treaties.

Finally, humanitarian law of war is violated in many ways when the use of nuclear weapons is considered. These include the principle of military necessity and humanity, the principle of differentiation of purpose, proportionality, humanitarian access and extensive, long-term and serious damage to the natural environment.

Because nuclear weapons cannot be used without violating these binding international treaties and more importantly, because they violate the deepest being of us as humanity, and because Germany and the U.S. at Büchel Air Base are preparing and planning a war with nuclear weapons that would violate international treaties, and because the Nuremberg Charter and Principles hold everyone responsible for intervening when war crimes are planned, even if this is done by governments, therefore, I believe that in the case of the illegal conduct at Büchel Air Base, my actions were not civil disobedience but my civic duty, a legal obligation and an attempt to prevent crime.

I want to go back to the love I was talking about before, which is leading for me. It also led me to take action in a way that I did not harm anyone on July 15, 2018.

Someone who is an example to me in the power and scope of love is Jesus Christ, the man who, for his words and acts of nonviolent love, was tried and executed by the state and religious authorities of his time. What he did, he did not do to be disobedient to the law, but because he remained obedient to the God of nonviolent love, justice, and peace — regardless of the consequences for him personally.

He inspired millions of people, including, for example, Dorothy Day, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. People who — like me — didn’t have a fixed this-is-the-right-way in mind, but a vision of where we can go, if we want to get closer to a world where man and nature can live in peace and space.
I don’t dare to compare myself to them, but that’s how I try to live.

It is simple (but not necessarily easy!): Either we choose more love, peace and justice, or we don’t.
Every step we take takes us in a certain direction.

If it turns out later that I shouldn’t have taken this step, I hope to have the courage to adjust my course. In the same way, every person has to make that decision. And later you will make a decision about me, about us.

I don’t have much power or influence. But I have more privileges and freedoms than many others, and I try to use them, for example, for nature, which has no legal status but is a [innocent] victim of the existence of nuclear weapons. Power is very tricky. It changes you before you know it. It’s hard to resist. And relinquishing power is even harder.

The balance of power in the world is skewed — at every level where we humans relate to each other.

But I don’t agree with the status quo and I refuse to accept it. No state has the right to lay such a huge threat as having an atomic bomb on the rest of the world, superpower or not. And no one has the right to cooperate with such states.

I’m just a human being, and I don’t have much power. But I believe that my actions and the actions of every human being can have great effects. That’s another reason I entered Büchel Air Base: Hoping to draw attention to the suffering being prepared there. And I will not remain silent as long as I believe that things can be done differently. That’s why I went to Büchel Air Base, and that’s why I asked you to hear me today — because I’m hoping that we can do it differently as people, that a world without nuclear weapons and without violence is possible.

And if I can’t anymore, for whatever reason, others will take my place — because we are made to live together in peace, without the threat of violence, to enjoy all the good that is on this earth.
I have no intention of appealing your ruling. Though I’m very happy that others are doing their utmost to take all the possible legal paths to justice. Should you decide to sentence me, I would much rather prefer to not pay the fine.

I realize that it is easy to look at my case from just a regional perspective, with just the facts in mind, and that — you will say – “What is or isn’t on that base doesn’t matter. You had no right to be there.”
As far as I’m concerned, the perspective is global and universal: What I’m allowed to do, trying to prevent evil without hurting anyone else, everyone should be allowed to do. And what I’m not allowed to do, threatening a human life, no one should be allowed to do.

I’m grateful that you listened to me today. And I wish you peace and all the best.