Three environmental activists who threw orange paint on the facade of the Italian Senate in Rome on Monday, angering the far-right Italian government, will be tried in court, a judge decided on Tuesday (January 3rd).
Laura, 26, Davide, 23, and Alessandro, 21, members of the Last Generation group and whose full identity has not been disclosed, are charged with criminal damage.
They risk up to three years in prison.
Their trial will begin on May 12, their lawyer, Ilaria Salamandra, told AFP.
She said she hoped for a reclassification of the charge, to retain only a desire to dirty the building, punishable by six months to a year in prison.
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Denounce the “will of the elites”
On Monday, the three young people were part of a group of five activists who used fire extinguishers to throw paint on the facade, windows and on a large wooden door of the Senate.
Their action was aimed at exposing the "
will of political and economic elites to deliberately choose to condemn a large part of the world's population to drought, famine, war and death
", Laura explained in a press release.
These activists are calling for Italy to invest more in renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions.
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Quickly arriving on the scene, the police seized the fire extinguishers and arrested the five activists before releasing two.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni denounced a “
scandalous gesture
”.
In recent months, environmental activists have multiplied actions around the world aimed at alerting public opinion to global warming.