This Friday, the seven environmental activists who had participated in a day of action “Let’s walk on airports” on October 3 with 350 people, investing the tarmac at Roissy airport, were largely released. 84 of them had actually managed to enter the airport enclosure. They were protesting against an extension project for terminal 4, the abandonment of which was announced by the government a few months later.
They were mostly heard by the Bobigny court, which acquitted them of the charges of disturbance to the operation of airport facilities. The judges also reclassified the offense of “heavy damage” to “light damage”. Regarding their refusal to authorize the taking of their DNA fingerprint, the court concluded that they were also acquitted. Up to three months suspended prison sentence and 600 euros fine had been requested on October 6 by the public prosecutor.
Two activists were sentenced to pay 500 euros to ADP (Paris airport) for having cut the enclosure fence in order to break into the runways.
“It’s a victory for the climate”
On the forecourt of the court, the activists let their joy burst: “It is a victory for the climate and for those who use civil disobedience as a tool of action. We are forced to go against leaders who do not make decisions. The culprits are not us but those who make people believe that the green plane is the climate objective to be achieved, ”says Audrey Boehly, one of the defendants, spokesperson for the Non au T4 association. The judgment also has “a symbolic aspect”, she adds. Because this favorable decision is made on the day when the COP26 on climate change closes in Glasgow (Scotland).
Their three lawyers, Mes Arié Alimi, Chloé Saynac and Alexis Beaudelin, welcome the fact that “justice is beginning to realize the need for such mobilizations. She sent a message to the government, ”insists Me Alimi. Me Chloé Saynac continues: “The magistrates judged that the prosecution for having refused to give his DNA was “disproportionate” in relation to their action. In this they followed a decision of the European Court of Human Rights on the right to respect for private life”.
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