Today, the Copenhagen District Court found Stine Gry Jonassen
and Tannie Nyboe guilty in charges of being organisers and instigators
of violence and vandalism. The incident took place on 16th of December
at Bella Center last year during the climate summit in Copenhagen.
The
two women were sentenced to four months of probation. One of the judges
disagreed with the verdict and thought the accused should be freed of
all charges.
Stine Gry and Tannie Nyboe both acted as spokespersons for the
Global Network "Climate Justice Action” (CJA). During the Cop15 last
year, CJA organised several non-violent civil disobedience protests,
including the "Reclaim Power - Push for Climate Justice" rally on 16th
of December. The two women were both the public faces of the movement
and they are now found guilty in charges of being organisers and
instigators of violence and riots.
They are both deeply shocked by the
outcome of the trial and are now considering an appeal.
Stine Gry considers the whole trial absurd: "There has been a clear
political rationale with these trials. It is obvious that Tannie and I
were accused because we acted as public faces of the movement. This
trial sends a significant message: if you have the nerve to stand up and
express a critical point of view of society, the authorities will do
whatever they can to silence you.
It is absurd that a large public
movement as CJA is criminalised because they – as one of the few - dared
to criticise the ongoing climate negotiations during the summit;
especially in the light of how poorly things turned out with the
negotiations and how criticisable Denmark's role was. The verdict is a
defeat for democracy because it hinders politically engaged people in
using their democratic right to demonstrate and express themselves
critically."
Tannie explains: “It is an evident political attempt to limit the
opportunity to criticise the negotiations during the summit and the
whole bedrock of the climate process. The right to demonstrate is an
essential part of democracy, despite it is the existing political system
that is being criticised.
I really hope that people will still use
their democratic right to express themselves critically, though one
might risk being accused personally by the court. However, I fear that
this case will scare people from protesting and organising themselves
politically in the future. Consequently it is just as big a defeat for
the political work and democracy in Denmark,as it is for us personally."
