A judge has charged climate activists Futuro Vegetal with alleged criminal organization. Eight of them must report themselves under investigation on October 8 after 25 members of the environmental group were reported by the Provincial Information Brigade of the Madrid National Police, according to the court order seen by elDiario.es.
To believe that this group is a criminal organization implies considering that they have joined forces with the objective of committing crimes, as described in the Penal Code. That there is a structure and coordination to commit crimes. These accusations follow the arrests made between December and January by the anti-terrorist structure of the Police, in the framework of what it called Operation Spora.
The police report sent to the court on which the accusation is based – which elDiario.es was able to consult – includes a very diverse series of protest actions in different regions of Spain, which are already the subject of isolated investigations in different judicial seats. The alleged crime of criminal organization can also imply another penalty. The Penal Code provides for prison sentences of three to eight years for those who coordinate, direct or promote the organization. For members or economic collaborators, prison of one to five years.
Colorful list
The list (with brief descriptions) is varied. Investigations began after the launch of the “red paint” [agua coloreada] on the facade of the Ministry of Agriculture in January 2022. Many of the actions included in the report are similar: painting or graffiti on the facade of the Argentine consulate in Cádiz, the government delegation in Madrid, the headquarters of the PP, VOX and IU in Seville, the headquarters of El Pozo or fast food restaurants, among others.
The document brings together more disruptive actions such as the entry into the “largest macro-slaughterhouse in Europe” in Binéfar (Huesca) – where the electricity in the cold rooms was cut off – or access to the runways of the airports of Madrid and Ibiza; with other actions in which the activists “demonstrate naked and bathed in red liquid at the Carrefour in Barcelona” or in which they “bathe naked in the fountain in the gardens of the Royal Palace and hang a banner”. Likewise, the protest of eight activists at the doors of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the “staging of their deaths” are integrated.
The appearance of “a boxing event, The Evening of Year 2 between David Bustamante and Mr. Jagger organized by Ibai Llanos” also served to justify the police complaint; entry to a conference at the Repsol Entrepreneurs Fund in Madrid; interrupting the speech of the Minister of Agriculture Luis Planas and the “laying of tombstones” in the gardens of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
Many of the actions mentioned in the report already have their own judicial procedure. For example, the traffic jams on the Madrid ring road or the blocking of access to the Mercamadrid wholesale market are treated as crimes against road safety. The action in which two activists stuck their hands on the frame of Goya’s paintings The Majas in the Prado as a crime against historical heritage.
Moving beyond these crimes to the type of criminal organization represents a turning point in the hardening observed against environmental activism. In general, sanctions in the form of fines are moving from fines to prison sentences.
Futuro Vegetal, for its part, defends that its demonstrations are “peaceful” and describes the criminalization of its actions as “irrational and disproportionate.”
Concern for human rights
This process comes as the 15 climate activists who threw colored water on the facade of the Congress of Deputies await trial for the April 6, 2022 demonstration. The prosecution has requested a 21-month prison sentence for a crime against historical heritage.
In this case, the Madrid Information Brigade also arrested them two months after the demonstration and also accused them of crimes against state institutions. They argued that this action had disrupted the functioning of the Cortes. The chief lawyer of the Congress at the time forced the accusation by informing the police that a “notorious” alteration had occurred. However, the president of the Congress, Maritxell Batet, later corrected the lawyer and the investigating judge withdrew this hypothesis from the accusation.
Just a few days ago, the organization Climate Rights published a report concluding that high-income countries in the North “are taking harsh and unclear disciplinary measures to suppress climate change protests.” The book mentions the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States, among others.
UN human rights rapporteurs have expressed concern about the tightening of sanctions against environmental activists, particularly climate activists. One of these rapporteurs, Michel Frost, explained that “the fact that [las protestas] causing disruption or involving civil disobedience does not mean they are not peaceful.
The previous rapporteur on human rights in the context of climate change, Ian Fry, also protested against the drift that some countries are taking when it comes to punishing protest actions very similar to those described in the indictment against the Futuro Vegetal activists – road closures, pouring paint on the protective glass of paintings, etc. –. Fry then expressed his “serious concern about the potential effect that the severity of the sentences could have on activists”. He was referring to a deterrent effect.
Climate rights director Brad Adams said in launching the report: “Governments must see protesters and activists as allies in the fight against climate change, not criminals.”
