The Green Party says whaling protester Peter Bethune may have been legally entitled under international maritime law to attempt a citizen's arrest on the captain of Japanese vessel Shonan Maru, and that the New Zealand Government needs to act to assist him from a legal perspective.
Mr Bethune has been in Japanese custody since boarding the Japanese whaling vessel in the Antarctic Ocean on February 15, and now faces a trespass charge after being transferred from the ship into the custody of authorities in Japan.
He boarded the Shonan Maru to attempt a citizen's arrest on its captain following an earlier collision between the whaling ship and his boat, Ady Gil. The latter sank following the incident, which the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society claims was a deliberate and criminal act on behalf of the Shonan Maru.
Green Party oceans spokesman Gareth Hughes said an Australian-based lawyer, Ronald Browne, had pointed out New Zealand was a signatory to the Rome Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation.
Incorporated into New Zealand law through the Maritime Crimes Act, that meant if the Shonan Maru captain was criminally liable for the collision, Mr Bethune was entitled to carry out the citizen's arrest, Mr Hughes said.
However, other legal perspectives suggest while the arrest attempt may be justified, the act of boarding a private ship in international waters is illegal regardless.
Maritime New Zealand is investigating the collision and a spokeswoman said today the release of any findings were still a long way off.
Mr Hughes said the Government was doing little to try to assist Mr Bethune and needed to explore legal opportunities to do so under the Maritime Crimes Act. A spokesman from Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully's office said Mr Bethune was still being questioned by Japanese authorities.
He had been charged with trespassing. It was not yet clear whether other charges would follow, and at the moment there was little the New Zealand Government could do.
