A British antinuclear activist acquitted by a Scottish court in October of criminal responsibility for damage she inflicted on a British nuclear submarine facility called for Japanese citizens to support her efforts to outlaw atomic weapons.
Angela Zelter, 48, who is visiting on a nationwide lecture tour that began Friday, told a Tokyo news conference earlier in the week that she hopes the people of Japan, the only country to have been the target of nuclear attacks, will provide testimony in British or international courts regarding the effects of nuclear weapons.
Zelter was arrested with two other antinuclear activists in June on suspicion of inflicting 80,000 British pounds worth of damage on a barge on Loch Goil in Scotland used for research on nuclear weapons.
A court in Greenock, Scotland, handed down a landmark ruling Oct. 21, saying the three should not be held responsible for the damage because they were trying to prevent Britain from committing crimes under international law.
The ruling was based on an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice issued in 1996 that nuclear weapons are illegal because they cannot distinguish between civilian and military targets.
Zelter said testimony from Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb attacks on Nagasaki and Hiroshima was used in her trial. Destinations on her lecture tour include Hiroshima and Nagasaki.