They denounce the “methods” of the French authorities against the demonstrators.
Opponents of the A69 Toulouse-Castres motorway project have urgently appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), we learned from the Court on Friday.
The referral was sent to him on Thursday.
The court has sent questions to the French government and will rule on the applicants' request on Monday, said a source at the ECHR.
In their request, opponents of the motorway project denounce methods used according to them by the police against demonstrators who camp at the top of trees and call themselves "squirrels": denial of access to food and drinking water, sleep deprivation, smoking, etc. “Faced with this situation of imminent danger, the request filed with the ECHR aims to put an immediate end to the failings of the French public authorities,” the opposition organizations indicated on X The Way is Clear and National Tree Monitoring Group (GNSA).
Following the end of mission declaration by @ForstMichel we urgently seize the @ECHR_CEDH to order #France to put an end to all measures detrimental to human dignity observed in Saïx against the defenders of environment #A69 pic.twitter.com/8b6LhVoOvD
— Claire Dujardin (@DujardinClaire) February 29, 2024
The opponents appeal to the judges on the basis of Article 39 of the Rules of Court, which governs emergency interim measures.
Basically, they accuse the French government of violating the European Convention on Human Rights in its articles 2 (right to life), 3 (prohibition of torture), 6 (right to a fair trial), 8 (respect for private and family life) and 13 (right to an effective remedy).
The referral to the Court was made on the same day as the end-of-mission declaration of the UN special rapporteur on the protection of environmental defenders, Michel Forst, who asked Paris for “immediate protection measures” opponents of the A69.
The UN rapporteur called for “sanctions”
Michel Forst, who visited the site at the end of February, requested "an investigation and sanctions for the acts of sleep deprivation, burning of materials, lighting of fires and dumping of apparently flammable products by the forces of order, who may have endangered the lives” of environmental demonstrators.
In reaction, the prefect of Tarn denied “the assertions” of the UN expert and regretted that he had not taken into account “the explanations given to him”.
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“This must stop”: Greta Thunberg in Tarn to support opponents of the A69 motorway
The 53 km motorway section would reduce the Castres-Toulouse journey by around twenty minutes.
The government said it was determined to see the project through to completion.