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!