As the world faces a triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, environmental protesters were acting for the “benefit of us all” and must be protected, Mich el Forst , the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, said yesterday.
Forst said that during a two-day visit to the UK earlier this month he uncovered worrying information on the treatment of peaceful protesters.
Rules imposed on defendants in one London court have prevented them explaining their motivations to the jury. At the Inner London crown court, peaceful protesters have been forbidden by court order from mentioning the climate crisis, fuel poverty or even the US civil rights movement in their statements to the jury.
Forst said: “It is very difficult to understand what could justify denying the jury the opportunity to hear the reason for the defendant’s action, and how a jury could reach a properly informed decision without hearing it, in particular at the time of environmental defenders’ peaceful but ever more urgent calls for the government to take pressing action for the climate.”
He said the prosecution of peaceful protesters under “regressive” new public nuisance laws in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 , which carried a 10-year sentence, and the use of the Public Order Act 2023 was criminalising peaceful demonstrations.
Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin January 24, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye The Guardian dergisinin January 24, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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