New Zealand conservationist Peter Bethune has received a suspended sentence from a Japanese Court and is free to return home to New Zealand.

Buthane was arrested in February after he scaled the deck of the whaling vessel the Shonan Maru II.

In a trial that began on 27 May, Buthane pleaded guilty to four charges, including trespass, but was also found guilty of assault for throwing a rancid butter bomb. Buthane pleaded not guilty to this charge.

He was sentenced to two years in jail, which was suspended for five years.