Climate spokespersons sentenced guilty: This is a giant defeat for
democracy
Today, the Copenhagen District Court found Stine Gry Jonassen and Tannie
Nyboe guilty in charges of being organisers and instigators of violence and
vandalism. The incident took place on 16th of December at Bella Center last
year during the climate summit in Copenhagen. The two women were sentenced
to four months of probation. One of the judges disagreed with the verdict
and thought the accused should be freed of all charges.
Stine Gry and Tannie Nyboe both acted as spokespersons for the Global
Network “Climate Justice Action” (CJA).
During the Cop15 last year, CJA organised several non-violent civil
disobedience protests, including the “Reclaim Power – Push for Climate
Justice” rally on 16th of December. The two women were both the public
facesof the movement and
they are now found guilty in charges of being organisers and instigators of
violence and riots. They are both deeply shocked by the outcome of the trial
and are now considering an appeal.
Stine Gry considers the whole trial absurd:
*”There has been a clear political rationale with these trials. It is
obvious that Tannie and I were accused because we acted as public faces of
the movement. This trial sends a significant message: if you have the nerve
to stand up and express a critical point of view of society, the authorities
will do whatever they can to silence you. It is absurd that a large public
movement as CJA is criminalised because they – as one of the few – dared to
criticise the ongoing climate negotiations during the summit; especially in
the light of how poorly things turned out with the negotiations and how
criticisable Denmark’s role was. The verdict is a defeat for democracy
because it hinders politically engaged people in using their democratic
right to demonstrate and express themselves critically.” *
Tannie explains: *”It** is an evident political attempt to limit the
opportunity to criticise the negotiations during the summit and the whole
bedrock of the climate process. The right to demonstrate is an
essentialpart of democracy, despite it is the existing political
system that is being
criticised. I really hope that people will still use their democratic
rightto express themselves critically, though one might risk being
accused personally by the court. However, I fear that this case will scare
people from protesting and organising themselves politically in the
future. Consequently
it is just as big a defeat for the political work and democracy in
Denmark,as it is for us personally.”
For further information, interviews etc. contact the Climate Collective’s
press group:
Phone: (+45) 50 58 87 51
E-mail: media@climatecollective.org
*www.climatecollective.org/push*
* *
*Background:*
Climate Justice Action (CJA) is a global network of social movements and
groups, which mobilised and called out for protests during the climate
summit in Copenhagen in December last year, in order to challenge the
insubstantial political negotiations at the Bella Centre and demanding just
solutions to the climate problems. On 16th of December, CJA organised the
demonstration “Reclaim Power – Push for Climate Justice” to give voice to
the people mostly affected by climate changes – the same people who were not
heard inside the Bella Centre.
At the time, Stine Gry and Tannie were spokespersons for the movement and
argued for the right to protest and for the freedom of speech. They are now
found guilty in planning the “Reclaim Power” demonstration and of plotting
violence against an official in function, of severe vandalism, of serious
disturbance of public peace and order, and of illegal trespassing.
Several hundred people were arrested in relation to the action, but none of
these have since been accused anything illegal.
The trial of the two spokespersons took place in Copenhagen City Court on 6
th, 27th, and 28th of October 2010 at 9.30 AM. The verdict was spoken at Thu, 26th of November by Copenhagen City Court.
Source: ClimateCollective Copenhagen
