Nine environmental activists from Greenpeace were sentenced Thursday February 22 by the Bobigny criminal court to fines of 700 to 1,200 euros for having partially repainted an Air France plane in green at Roissy in 2021. Only one of the nine defendants, aged 22 to 59 years old, was present when the decision was read, substantially in accordance with the prosecutor's requisitions for the repression of the offenses of damage and obstruction of aircraft navigation with which they were accused.
These fines, adjusted according to any previous convictions of the defendants for other operations, the court also sentenced the entire group to a ban on appearing at Roissy and Le Bourget airports for three years.
Eight of the nine defendants were also fined 100 euros for refusing to submit to DNA samples while in police custody.
Council of nine members of Greenpeace, Maître Marie Dosé announced that she was considering appealing the judgment.
“Legal proceedings cannot be used to muzzle activists who act responsibly in the face of the climate emergency
,” she reacted in a press release.
“Greenwashing”
On March 5, 2021, these members of the NGO climbed the tarmac fence at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle and then partially repainted an Air France Boeing 777-200 parked there in green.
About ten minutes after their break-in, they were arrested by the air transport gendarmerie (GTA), responsible for securing the airport runways.
The activists intended through this action to denounce the government's
“
greenwashing
”
on environmental issues surrounding air traffic.
Questioned by the president of the court during the hearing on February 8, one of the defendants stressed that they
“did not like to commit offenses to denounce public problems like climate change but it turns out that we do not 'is not heard'
.
Air France had estimated its damage at 60,000 euros, fully covered by its insurance.
Having all admitted the facts at the hearing, each of the nine defendants was also ordered to pay a symbolic euro to Air France and Aéroports de Paris (ADP), for image damage.