United Kingdom: Justice reduces sentences for environmental activists

The British judiciary has partially revised the sentences of sixteen members of the Just Stop Oil organisation, involved in various blockade and vandalism actions in 2023 and 2024. The Court of Appeal on Friday reduced the sentences of six of them while maintaining those of the remaining ten. These reductions include Roger Hallam, founder of the movement, whose prison term was cut from five to four years.

Sentence reductions for some activists

Among the affected activists, five were initially sentenced to four to five years in prison for organising a blockade of the M25 motorway around London. One of them, Gaie Delap, aged 78 and who suffered a stroke in July, saw her sentence reduced from 20 to 18 months. Already released under electronic surveillance in January after 43 days in prison, she remains under judicial supervision.

Convictions upheld for other actions

However, the judiciary upheld the prison sentences of several other movement members. Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, who threw soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery, did not obtain a reduction in their respective sentences of two years and twenty months. Similarly, four activists who climbed gantries on the M25 motorway and four others who occupied a tunnel in Essex for thirteen days to protest against the fossil fuel industry had their convictions upheld.

A ruling with legal ramifications

The British prosecution justified these sanctions by the need to respond to actions deemed “dangerous” and “beyond reasonable limits.” Environmental activist groups, such as Greenpeace UK and Friends of the Earth, responded by criticising the sentences as severe for peaceful protests.

This Court of Appeal ruling could influence future trials involving environmental activists. Some Just Stop Oil members are still awaiting trial for actions carried out at Stonehenge and Westminster Abbey.