SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 01/09/05
Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane has this afternoon been freed from a special sitting of Helensburgh District Court pending a report on her failure to carry out a supervised attendance order.
Rosie will re-appear before the court on 12th September when she could face a jail sentence of between 7 and 28 days.
Rosie handed herself in to police at 8.30pm on Wednesday 31st August following the issuing of a warrant for her arrest saying that as an MSP she had a duty to take responsibility for her actions.
Rosie was then taken to Dunbarton Sherrif court where she was held in a holding cell before being taken to Helensburgh District Court.
Rosie told JP Vivian Dance that she had no intention of giving either her money or her labour as she did not regard that she had committed a crime.
When Rosie had been originally sentenced in March of this year for the offence she had committed at Faslane on 23rd August 2004 JP Dance had imposed a fine of £150 which if was not paid should be transferred to a supervised attendance order.
Rosie was freed until the 12th September because the paperwork confirming that she had not undertaken the supervised attendance order was not available to the court.
On leaving Helensburgh District Court Rosie remained defiant, saying;
“By taking the action I did at Faslane I was upholding the peace, not breaching it.
“I took a principled stand against nuclear weapons before I became an MSP and will continue to take a principled stand as an elected member of the Scottish Parliament.
“I have no intention of giving either my money or my labour as I do not believe I have committed a crime when the nuclear weapons I am protesting about are illegal in the first place.”
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