The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Verdict against power plant blocker: Guilty - and yet felt winner

2019-12-04T19:50:21.547Z


Three men and two women paralyzed a RWE coal-fired power plant. A court has condemned them - but only in one of three points. Environmental activists should pay 50 to 60 daily rates of five euros each.



In the courtroom 17 of the district court in Eschweiler penetrate the songs and cries of the demonstrators. Around 50 supporters of the defendants stand in the street in front of the court, holding up banners, one says, "Dear judge, who wins, is it coal, is it your child?"

Just before 5 pm, Judge Sven Gißelbach pronounces his verdict: The five environmental activists who blocked the lignite power plant in Weisweiler in the fall of 2017 are being punished because of resistance to law enforcement officials. But in the most serious charge against them, the disturbance of public enterprises, Gisselbach sees the offense is not realized. Even for trespassing the defendants are not prosecuted.

When the judge submits the verdict, the activists and their defenders look at each other, stunned, as if they had not expected this outcome. A few minutes later, in front of the courtroom, there are hugs and pat on the back.

"It's a 2-1 victory for us, that's pretty good," says Niklas R., one of the defendants. Meaning: no punishment in two charges, in one.

A masterpiece of environmental protest?

The case received a lot of attention because it dealt with basic questions of the climate protests. It was about how far the fight against global warming can go. What is still legitimate, what is illegal? Where is the limit from which civil disobedience must be punished?

After the three days of negotiations at the District Court in Eschweiler, it is clear that in protesting for a better climate, activists are allowed to go quite far before the rule of law becomes hard.

Your power plant blockade on November 15, 2017 in Weisweiler see the activists as a masterpiece in the history of environmental protests in Germany. For the first time, they said before the trial, the movement had managed to paralyze a power plant in a short time. Niklas R. spoke of a "historical act of resistance and self-empowerment", the group has set a sign that man must not stand idly by the climate catastrophe.

The five defendants, along with other activists, shook several coal conveyors and coal excavators in Weisweiler that morning, and the power plant is operated by the RWE energy company. Some of the activists are said to have laid themselves down on the conveyor belts and fixed their arms in a steel tube with the aid of gypsum shackles. Others are said to have climbed onto a coal excavator. So it was in the indictment of the prosecutor. The action had the goal to interrupt the coal supply to the power plant, which also succeeded. RWE initially had to operate its power plant blocks at low load, later on it had to be completely disconnected from the grid.

Prosecutor Jana Thevis stressed in her plea that there are legal ways to make political point. The activists would have to abide by that, otherwise "the state monopoly on violence would be endangered". Thevis glanced over at the defendants: "It's about enforcing your own political will, regardless of casualties, and you have a variety of participation rights as an alternative, you could be politically involved or go into research."

And anyway, Thevis went on, CO2 was also expelled by the expense of the police and the RWE staff, which broke the blockade again that morning. The prosecutor demanded a term of imprisonment for the activists, suspended for a probationary period of three years. "I'm assuming," Thevis said, "that the defendants would do that again at any time." She's probably right about that.

Spectators applaud

The five defendants belong to the so-called climate justice movement, they are between 22 and 37 years old, two women and three men. They had announced that they would use the process "as a stage" to "lead it politically". In paragraph 34 of the Criminal Code, they believed that they had found a legal basis for their actions. It is about the "Justifying Emergency". The blockade, according to the defense strategy, was necessary to avert a greater danger, the climate collapse.

In the course of the process, a climate researcher and a pediatrician appeared, they talked about the consequences of global warming, about particulate matter development. The defense had loaded the two. She also requested that North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet and Chancellor Angela Merkel be called as witnesses. The politicians should give information about their climate policy, the court refused. The reason: The work of the government is not the subject of the process.

"We have an emergency situation here," said defense lawyer Christian Mertens in his plea: The operation of the power plant in Weisweiler kill people, every 30.5 operating hours. "There is evidence of death and illness caused by this operation, but RWE has no permit, no permission." The state would not do enough about it, so the defendants would have acted according to the motto: "I'll take care of it myself." In the auditorium there was applause for his remarks.

The activists list environmental disasters

The last words before the verdict were the activists. They alternately counted environmental catastrophes in 2019. They talked about hurricanes, ice melts in Greenland, heat deaths in Germany and forest fires in Brazil.

"Due to our blockade," said the defendant Cornelia W., "the Weisweiler power plant emitted 26,000 tons less CO2 than usual, and we slowed down the climate crisis at least a little, a demonstration in front of the power plant would not have led to it."

In his ruling, Judge Gisselbach said that he did not follow the activists in their justification, they could not invoke self-defense. But: He did not see a trespass since the power plant site at the time of the crime had not been "coherently secured". There was also no disruption of public enterprises, as the activists had not destroyed the coal conveyor belts.

"The blockade was an obstacle, but the band could be used after that," the judge said. A decisive sentence. Conversely, the words of the judge: If you are clever enough, you can paralyze a power plant without being prosecuted later.

50 to 60 daily rates to five euros

What remains in the end is the charge of resistance to law enforcement officials. The activists, said Gisselbach, had not voluntarily vacated their blockade despite the police officers' request that a large-scale operation had been necessary to move the group away from the facility. Four of the activists have to pay 50 daily rates for five euros, one 60 daily rates to five euros. These are fairly manageable amounts as the activists have little to no income.

The defenders said they were considering calling to avert their fines. The prosecution could appeal within a week. Still, it seems, the criminal process is not over. In addition, there is still a civil case, RWE sued several of the activists for two million euros in damages. The outcome of the criminal proceedings, it was said in advance, will also have an influence on civil proceedings.

For RWE, the judgment of the District Court should be a setback. Upon request, the Group announced that it would not comment.

Read more about activists' motivation: "I would do it again"

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2019-12-04

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.