Whaling protester gets suspended sentence in Japan

Sea Shepherd member boarded ship to make 'citizen's arrest'

TOKYO - A New Zealand activist who boarded a Japanese whaling vessel in an attempt to stop an annual whale hunt was given a suspended two-year prison sentence, a Japanese court said on Wednesday.

Pete Bethune, a former captain of the Sea Shepherd's high-tech vessel called the Ady Gil, was indicted in April on five criminal counts, including one for carrying a knife when he boarded the vessel in what the activists said was an attempt to conduct a citizen's arrest.