The Court of Cassation on Tuesday rejected the appeals of eight activists and an employee of Greenpeace, as well as of the NGO itself, against their conviction on appeal to fines for an intrusion into the nuclear power plant of Cattenom (Moselle).
The Metz Court of Appeal sentenced eight Greenpeace activists in early 2020 to a 180-day fine, ranging from 4 to 11 euros, or from 720 euros to 1,980 euros. Yannick Rousselet, director of the NGO’s nuclear campaign, tried for complicity, was fined 270 days at 10 euros.
The sentences were lower than those handed down at first instance by the Thionville criminal court in February 2018: two months in prison for two repeat offenders and five months suspended prison sentence for the other six.
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€ 211,806 for material and economic damage
The eight activists, Mr. Rousselet and Greenpeace France, sued as a legal person and represented by its director, Jean-François Julliard, were also ordered to pay EDF jointly and severally 211,806 euros for material and economic damage and 50,000 euros. in compensation for moral prejudice. The NGO was fined 25,000 euros, a final sentence.
Asked by AFP, Me Alexandre Faro, lawyer for Greenpeace, deplored “a missed date with history”.
“This reveals an inadequacy of our law to understand the situation of significant technological or environmental risk,” he said.
On October 12, 2017, at dawn, anti-nuclear troops had crossed three fences to enter the site of the Moselle power station. They had fired fireworks near the building housing the fuel pool, according to them, before being arrested. The prefecture of Moselle and EDF had ruled out the possibility that they could have access to the nuclear zone.
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