Instead, he used the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society website Wednesday to plead his innocence on charges he's a reckless ocean marauder, a pirate without a parrot who'll stop at nothing to disrupt whaling and other seafaring activities.

The Canadian-born radical environmentalist - once a key member of Greenpeace until his confrontational style forced his departure - has been on the lam since last month when Interpol issued an arrest warrant after he skipped bail in Germany.

Japan and Costa Rica want him for destructive high seas antics, including ramming another ship - a charge Watson denies.

To hear Watson explain himself, he's never broken any laws while his ships prowl the oceans looking for fishermen to bully and nets to scuttle.

"We have not caused a single injury to any of them nor have we caused any damage to their ships," Watson said about the 350 voyages over 35 years he's been involved with.

In fact, he says he's a victim of trumped-up charges and the subject of a well-funded political conspiracy to toss him in a Japanese prison for saving 4,000 whales, countless turtles and other sea creatures.

He says Interpol can't touch him and he won't surrender while his legal team works to convince the international police force to back off.

"I believe that any impartial review of the evidence will exonerate me and its best to have this evidence reviewed with impartiality rather than to throw myself at the mercy of the courts where the verdict has already been determined."