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Insulate Britain climate protesters jailed for seven weeks for contempt of court [1]

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Date: 2023-03

Two environmental activists have been jailed for seven weeks after ignoring a judge’s ban on telling a jury that the climate crisis was their motivation for taking part in a roadblock protest in October 2021.

Earlier this week, Insulate Britain members Giovanna Lewis, Amy Pritchard and Paul Sheeky, appeared at the Inner London Crown Court, charged with causing a public nuisance by blocking a major junction in central London.

The trio were given a temporary reprieve on Thursday, when the case collapsed after the jury failed to reach a majority verdict despite 12 hours of deliberation.

But today Lewis and Pritchard were back in the dock charged with contempt of court, having defied a judge’s ban on telling the jury that they were protesting to bring awareness of climate change and fuel poverty.

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Silas Reid had forbidden the defendants from citing the climate crisis or fuel poverty as the reasons for their actions, telling them it was for “history to judge, not the jury”.

But during their closing statements, both Lewis and Pritchard made reference to the climate crisis when explaining why they staged a protest, prompting Reid to order the jury to leave the courtroom twice.

Today the defendants admitted to being in contempt of court. Reid gave both an opportunity to apologise and explain why they defied his ruling.

Lewis, a 65-year-old town councillor from Dorset, spoke first, telling Reid: “I continue to be astonished that today in a British court of law, a judge can or would even want to ban and criminalise the mention of the words ‘fuel poverty’ and ‘climate crisis’.

“I wanted to bring public attention to the scandal of thousands of deaths in the UK due to fuel poverty and thousands of deaths around the world due to climate change. There is no choice but to give voice to the truth.”

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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/activists-jailed-for-seven-weeks-for-defying-ban-on-mentioning-climate-crisis/

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