UK prosecutors defend jail terms of environmental activists

by Clara LALANNE

UK prosecutors on Thursday defended the lengthy prison sentences handed down to 16 environmental activists, telling London's Court of Appeal that their actions posed a danger to the public.

The activists with the Just Stop Oil (JSO) group last year received prison terms of between 15 months and five years for several stunts, including throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" in London and blocking the M25 motorway around the UK capital.

They have appealed the length of their sentences, but prosecutors told the court on Thursday that "each of the judges were right" as "all of these applicants went so far beyond what was reasonable".

Their actions also presented an "extreme danger" to the public, they said.

The five "conspirators" who organized the action in which activists climbed onto multiple gantries over the M25 motorway, leading to its closure, "were at the pinnacle of the organizational pyramid of what was intended to be the 'biggest disruption in British modern history'," the court heard.

The action affected around 700,000 vehicles over four days, and the five activists were sentenced to jail terms of between four and five years.

The sentences were "the highest of their kind in modern British history", Danny Friedman, a lawyer for the activists, told the court on Wednesday.

Hundreds of JSO supporters gathered outside the central London court on Thursday, sitting in silence on the road surrounded by portraits of around 100 people they said were "political prisoners" jailed across the world for environmental activism.

Police watched on, but the protest dispersed peacefully.

Just Stop Oil, which is urging the government to ban fossil fuel use by 2030, is known for its eye-catching stunts at museums, sports events and shows but has attracted criticism over its methods.

In recent years, previous Conservative governments passed a series of laws to punish their actions more severely.

NGOs Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have denounced the crackdown and have joined the appeal trial, which they say will have significant implications for the future of peaceful protest.

The court will publish its decision at a later date.

© Agence France-Presse