VALENTINA POP
A Belgian court on Thursday (17 March) handed down a one-month suspended jail sentence and fines of €1,100 to each of ten Greenpeace activists for having duped security and staged a protest during an EU summit in 2009.
The protest was staged as a „warning to EU leaders“ a few days ahead of a major climate change summit in Copenhagen. The activists managed to join an official motorcade and use the VIP entrance before being seized by security forces.
„We delivered an important message to European leaders, asking them to save the climate. Not only did they ignore the message, but they also failed to protect the climate. Theirs was the real crime, but we are the ones given jail sentences,“ said French activist Jacques Vandenheede, a graphic designer and teacher living in Brussels.
All eleven activists were charged with using fake IDs, but one of them was cleared, as he held a valid press card. (more on euobserver.com)
