By AFP -Agence France Presse
UK Prosecutors Defend Jailing Environmental Activists
By
Clara LALANNE
British prosecutors on Thursday defended the lengthy prison sentences imposed on 16 environmental activists, telling London's Court of Appeal that their actions posed a danger to the public.
Last year, activists from the Just Stop Oil (JSO) group were sentenced to prison terms of between 15 months and five years for various actions, including throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh's “Sunflowers” in London and blocking the M25 freeway around the British capital.
They appealed the length of their sentences, but prosecutors told the court on Thursday that “each of the judges was right” as “all of these applicants went far beyond what was reasonable”.
Their actions also posed an “extreme danger” to the public, they said.
The five “conspirators” who organized the action in which activists climbed several gantries over the M25 freeway, leading to its closure, “were at the top of the organizational pyramid of what was intended to be the ‘greatest disruption in Britain's modern history’”, the court heard.
The action affected around 700,000 vehicles over four days, and the five activists were sentenced to prison terms of four to five years.
The sentences were “the highest of their kind in modern British history”, Danny Friedman, the activists' lawyer, told the court on Wednesday.
Hundreds of JSO supporters gathered outside the court in central London on Thursday, sitting silently in the road with portraits of around 100 people they said were “political prisoners” jailed around the world for environmental activism.
“We know that the UK has become one of the most difficult places to protest anywhere in the world,” broadcaster and activist Chris Packham told AFP.
“We must fight fiercely for the right to stand up and protest and ensure that our leaders take action, much more urgently, to address this critical issue” of climate change, he added.
Police stood by, but the protest dispersed peacefully.
Just Stop Oil, which is calling on the government to ban the use of fossil fuels by 2030, is known for its eye-catching stunts at museums, sporting events, and concerts, but has attracted criticism over its methods.
In recent years, previous conservative governments have passed a series of laws to punish her actions more severely.
NGOs Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have denounced the crackdown and joined the appeal trial, which they say will have significant implications for the future of peaceful protests.
The court will publish its decision at a later date.
cla/jwp/js
Comentários