Friday, January 9, 2015

Remand Sought for Greenpeace Activists for Damaging Nazca Lines

1/9/2015

LIMA – The Peruvian Public Prosecutor’s Office is to seek remand for activists of the Greenpeace organization, as well as barring them from leaving the country, for allegedly damaging the pre-Colombian Nazca Lines, Peruvian Ministry of Culture’s lawyer Julio Espinoza has announced.

The activists have been identified as Mauro Nicolas Fernandez and Rodrigo Miguel Abd from Argentina and Herbert Augusto Villarraga Salgado from Colombia, Espinoza said on Wednesday, adding that they would also seek an order to prevent Greenpeace Director Kumi Naidoo, from South Africa, from leaving the country.

However, he admitted that the primary objective was to get the four within the reach of Peruvian law as they are currently outside the country.

In a statement to Efe, the Associated Press said that the ministry had incorrectly identified Rodrigo Abd as a Greenpeace activist in its photograph and that he was at the site doing his duty as an AP photographer and did not participate in the activism.

At a press conference, Espinoza explained the political and legal measures undertaken in light of the damages at Nazca, after it was learned Tuesday that a Japanese television crew also gained access to the protected zone without permission a year ago.

Culture Minister Diana Alvarez-Calderon said that they would take action against Greenpeace in the international court if there was no response from them regarding the charges presented in Peru.

She admitted that they were still not aware of all the activists who participated in the act of “vandalism” because Naidoo did not provide detailed information when he reached Nazca after the incident.

The controversial action, in December, involved Greenpeace activists writing a message in bright yellow about climate change near the Colibri figure, one of the most recognized geoglyphs of the Nazca Lines, during the UN’s COP20 climate change summit.

Regarding the case of the Japanese television crew, Alvarez-Calderon said that her ministry would begin proceedings against Peruvian archeologist Mario Olaeachea for driving the television crew to the heritage site, while he only had permission to fly over the zone.


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