nuclear-news

Court action in Germany aimed at removing USA nuclear warheads

Activist takes Germany to court over nuclear warheads , Gabriel Borrud, Deutsche Welle, 15 July 11, Retired pharmacist versus Germany: a Cologne court has begun hearing the case of an activist intent on having Germany remove US nuclear warheads being stored at a military base located in western Germany.

A court case got underway on Thursday in Cologne concerning the possible storage of up to 20 nuclear bombs at a military base in Rhineland Palatinate, which, according to Elke Koller, an anti-nuclear peace activist from a nearby village, goes against German basic law.

Between 10 and 20 US B61 nuclear warheads, which have an explosive force up to 13 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, are believed to be stored in highly protected underground vaults at the Büchel military base located in the low mountainous Eifel region just east of the Belgian border.

Koller, a retired pharmacist, sued the federal government in April 2010 to force Berlin to remove all nuclear weapons from the country – whether they belong to Germany or not.

Also at the airbase is a fleet of German Tornado IDS aircraft, high-speed fighter jets equipped to carry the US bombs for deployment in case of an emergency in Europe.

Elke Koller’s claim concerns the implications of this “emergency” usage; despite the fact that the bombs technically belong to the US – and can’t be fired without clearance from Washington – any participation from Germany in their deployment violates the country’s laws against use of “atomic, biological and chemical weapons in situations of armed conflict.”…… http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15234959,00.html

July 14, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Germany, Legal