Five environmental activists from Just Stop Oil, including the group’s co-founder, were sentenced in London on Thursday to four and five years in prison for organising demonstrations that blocked a motorway around London in November 2022.
“Each of you crossed the line between active extremist and fanatic some time ago,” Judge Christopher Hehir said in his ruling.
“You have declared yourself the sole arbiter of what needs to be done to combat climate change,” he added.
Roger Hallam, 57, co-founder of Just Stop Oil (JSO) and Extinction Rebellion, was sentenced to five years in prison.
The judge told him: “You are the theorist (…) In my opinion you are at the highest level of the conspiracy.”
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Four other gunmen, aged between 22 and 58, were sentenced to four years in prison.
They were convicted of planning to cause public harm.
They agreed via Zoom in November 2022 to hold a demonstration that would disrupt traffic on the M25 motorway around London.
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Dozens of JSO fighters took part in this action for four consecutive days. The police had to stop traffic.
According to the prosecution, the demonstrations cost the London Police more than £1.1 million, injured more than 700,000 motorists, and disrupted the M25 motorway for more than 120 hours.
“This is a dark day for the right to protest, which is one of the pillars of our democracy,” Greenpeace said.
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