The co-founder of British climate activist group Just Stop Oil had his sentence reduced for organizing a blockade of a major highway around London, a judge ruled Friday, while supporters wore T-shirts reading “Corruption In Court.” Photo by Neil Hall/EPA-EFE
March 7 (UPI) — The co-founder of British climate activist group Just Stop Oil had his sentence reduced for organizing a blockade of a major highway around London, a judge ruled Friday.
Lawyers for co-founder Roger Hallam and 15 other protesters argued their sentences were “manifestly excessive.”
The three-judge Court of Appeal panel reduced Hallam’s sentence from five years to four, while also decreasing the sentences of five of his co-defendants and dismissing the remaining appeals.
“Some attention must be paid to conscientious motivation, although much less than would have been the case had the offending been less disproportionate,” Baroness Chief Justice Sue Carr said in speaking for the court.
Hallam and his co-defendants were convicted on conspiracy charges for their roles in orchestrating four separate demonstrations between August and November 2022.
More than 40 members of the group climbed elevated walkways above the busy M25 highway that encircles London, snarling traffic over the course of four consecutive days.
Gaie Delap, 75, was one of the other defendants to have her sentence reduced Friday, cut from 20 months to 18 after the Court of Appeal re-considered her “onerous” bail conditions.
Supporters sat at the back of the room in the Royal Courts of Justice in London Friday, with several wearing T-shirts reading “Corruption in Court.”
Just Stop Oil is focused on curbing human-caused climate change. The group has been involved several high-profile protests to draw attention to its cause.
In October 2022, less than a month before the M25 blockade, police arrested two members for damaging a painting by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh on display at the National Gallery in London.
Last June, two Just Stop Oil members used orange spray-paint to deface the ancient site at Stonehenge outside of London.