“Think carefully”, the judge told eight of 11 climate activists given 18 month jail terms for a protest that stopped traffic on a busy Lisbon highway last year. Refusing to trade the jail sentences for fines/ community service, the judge stressed that none of the young defendants had shown a shred of remorse over their actions, because they believed them to be for a ‘noble cause’. But there is no cause that can supercede the law, he reminded them – thus the eight condemned will now have criminal records to take forwards into their futures – and if they commit any more offences on protests within the next 18 months, there is “a high probability, they will have to serve the sentence they are sentenced to”, warned the judge.
Climate activists receive 18 month jail terms, suspended
