Subject: Fw: Bulgarian Greenpeace activist threatened

From: "echo" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 10:40:02 -0800

-----Original Message-----
From: V 
Date: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 7:42 AM
Subject: Greenpeace

Greenpeace activist threatened with death

Vienna, 8 March 2005 - Greenpeace activist and leading nuclear
opponent in Bulgaria, Albena Simeonova, has received threats on her
life due to her public opposition to the construction of a nuclear
power plant in Belene, north of the country. The environmental
organisation, supported by other groups (1), calls on the Bulgarian
Government to secure her safety and prevent these threats to happen
again.

Simeonova,40,who is portrayed as an obstacle by the nuclear
industry's interests, started to receive anonymous calls at the end
of 2004. On February 23rd, two men showed up at her house door
issuing death threats if she refused to stop her resistance against
plans to build the nuclear power plant in Belene. The men also warned
her to leave the region of Nikopol, her homeland.

"This is not only a serious threat against my life, it represents a
threat to all who campaign against nuclear plants trying to protect
their lives and the local environment," said Simeonova, who won the
Goldman Award, dubbed as the Nobel Prize for the Environment, in 1996.

Simeonova is one of the leaders of a strong movement in Bulgaria that
stopped plans for the construction of a nuclear power station near
Belene in the early 1990s. The building plans were revived in 2003,
and she was one of the first people to ask attention for the problems
the project would create. She alerted national and international
organisations on the upcoming plans and since has been one of the
motors behind resistance against Belene.

"We are shocked to hear that her life is threatened due to her
opposition to this nuclear project. She is a pioneer for a clean
environment in Bulgaria. Belene is the real threat, not Albena
Simeonova. This plant is completely unnecessary for Bulgaria and for
the region," says Jan Haverkamp from Greenpeace International

Bulgaria has one of the largest renewable energy resources in the
European Union, with massive potentials for wind energy, as well as
geothermal and hydropower. With its large agricultural sector,
Bulgaria could cover a significant part of its energy needs with
renewable energy. These clean energy sources are economic, abundant,
create thousands of jobs and pose no threat to human life and the
environment.

Greenpeace opposes the construction of the Belene reactors and
demands the Bulgarian Government to stop the production of nuclear
power. They will generate highly radioactive waste and put the
Bulgarian and European population at risk.

Notes to Editor:
1). Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth Europe

Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses
non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental
problems and to force solutions that are essential to a green and
peaceful future.
--
Cecilia Goin
Media Officer
Greenpeace International
Ottho Heldringstraat 5
1066 AZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands