Danish authorities are continuing to detain an Australian, Natasha Verco, for a fourth week since the Copenhagen climate conference. She is currently detained in the Vestre Faengsel prison, and will appear in court in Copenhagen on Monday January 4th 2010.

Natasha was arrested on Sunday December 13th, three days before the major ‘Reclaim Power’ protest during the United Nations climate negotiations. She is being charged with “incitement” for her role in organising the climate justice protest.

Holly Creenaune, spokesperson for Friends of the Earth Sydney, says, “Natasha should be released, and charges against her dropped. Three weeks gaol for a protest she could not even attend is obscene.  We already gave the Danes a princess – give us back our protestor!

“The Copenhagen meeting was an abject failure – with rich countries like Australia pushing false solutions of offsetting and carbon trading, and avoiding urgently-needed emissions reductions.  But instead of taking action, the authorities locked up those who actually were,” says Ms Creenaune.

Tadzio Mueller, a German arrested alongside Natasha, said on his release from custody, “The Danish government’s appallingly disproportionate reaction, the political policing used to gaol some 1800 activists for nothing at all; using tear gas, pepper spray, baton charges and mass preemptive arrests; sets a precedent dangerous not only for Denmark, but for the future of the world.”  A statement from the prisoners is available at www.climate-justice-action.org/

Ms Verco is a long-time advocate for social change in Sydney, Australia. She is a graduate of the University if Sydney, where in 2000 she was elected President of the Student Representative Council.  She was an active member of ASEN and the NSW Student Environment Activist Network; and later, an important educator for social change.  She undertook Honors at the University of Technology honors program in Social Inquiry, was a founder of Rural Australians for Refugees, and a co-founder of Friends of the Earth Sydney.

A direct appeal to the Danish Consul General in Sydney, Michael Hansen, was launched today. Friends of the Earth Sydney will hand-deliver a personal letter to Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, who comes from Australia.  Friends and supporters of Mrs Verco will gather at the Danish Consulate General to raise their concerns directly in person.

The letter asserts the right to protest as a fundamental human right, and requests the charges against Mrs Verco be dropped and that she be immediately released so that she can continue her important work for climate justice.  The Australian Student Environment Network demands all climate justice activists be released immediately.