[ad_1]
- The Cantonal Court of Vaud has granted the acquittal of twelve climate activists in second instance.
- The activists, aged between 21 and 34, occupied a bank branch in Lausanne for an hour and a half in November 2018.
- The cantonal court has now sentenced her to conditional fines and fines of between 100 and 150 francs for trespassing.
- At the beginning of the year, the Renens District Court (VD) shockingly acquitted the climate activists.
The trial judgment received a lot of attention. It cleared climate activists of the illegal occupation charge for “justifying the emergency.” The sole judge spoke of a “necessary and appropriate” action in the face of the climate emergency. It was the first trial in Switzerland to recognize a global warming emergency.
Now the Cantonal Court of Vaud has reversed this judgment of first instance. Since the twelve climate activists had played tennis at a Credit Suisse branch, they were sentenced to conditional fines and fines of between 100 and 150 francs.
Tennis does not help against climate change
Unlike the first instance, the cantonal court ruled that the twelve activists did not act to “justify the state of emergency.”
His Credit Suisse tennis match, which denounced the bank’s investments in fossil fuels, failed to contain or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the court concluded. In Switzerland there are other, particularly political, means of combating global warming.
But no emergency
The verdict of the cantonal court is a victory for the attorney general of Vaudois, Eric Cottier. He took the case on January 14, a day after the activists’ unexpected acquittal in district court.
In his indictment Tuesday, Cottier argued that a court was not competent to deal with weather issues, but rather to apply the law. The prosecutor rejected the reasons that justified the state of emergency. He justified this by stating that the activists did not act out of imminent danger.
Instead, the twelve lawyers for the activists affirmed such a justifiable state of emergency and requested that the law be adapted to the climate emergency. The lawyers defended their clients’ civil disobedience and said it was legitimate to report Credit Suisse’s investments.
A case for European judges?
The twelve young activists, mostly students, illegally occupied the Credit Suisse facility in Lausanne in November 2018. Disguised as tennis players, they denounced the big bank for using Roger Federer’s positive reputation in their campaigns and, at the same time, persecuting an investment policy harmful to the environment.
The case should continue to be debated. Advocates for climate activists had already warned that if they were defeated they would go to federal court and possibly the European Court of Human Rights.
