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With civil disobedience, non-violent resistance and blockades, activists want to shake up society. They also get in trouble with the law. A judge now wants to waive the guilty verdict.
They block freeways, paralyze inner cities, chain themselves to buildings or disrupt sporting events: all in the name of the climate.
For authorities and the judiciary, the actions and demos of climate activists mean a considerable amount of additional work. The police often have to be on site in large numbers, and it is not uncommon for arrests to be made, which in turn have legal consequences.
Legend:
In May of this year, climate activists blocked access to an oil storage facility in Rümlang ZH. Several members of the police and fire brigade had to break up the protest.
KEYSTONE/Michael Buholzer
In this context, the statements of a Zurich district judge are causing a stir. During a negotiation, he recently announced that he would no longer pronounce convictions in cases of civil disobedience by climate activists. At the same time, he acquitted a woman accused of coercion.
Can a judge decide like that?
In the Zurich case, 46-year-old Nicole Gianoli-Masson was in the dock. She was part of the group that caused significant traffic delays in downtown Zurich last October with sit-ins, among other things. The cost of the police operation that day amounted to several hundred thousand francs.
Legend:
Demonstrators from the Extinction Rebellion group during a sit-in on the Rudolf Brun Bridge in Zurich city center in October 2021.
KEYSTONE/Ennio Leanza
The group Exctinction Rebellion was behind the protest. Their followers are characterized by particularly relentless civil disobedience. Statements by the group that they would paralyze the infrastructure in local cities if the government did not act prompted federal prosecutors to initiate proceedings.
In court, Gianoli-Masson made no secret of her frustration with Switzerland’s climate policy passivity, as the online newspaper “Republik” reported from the hearing. All the greater the surprise when the acquittal came. Gianoli-Masson: «I got chicken skin. It was the sign: Something is moving.”
“We’re running out of time”
In his verdict, the judge referred, among other things, to freedom of assembly and Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Everyone has the right to demonstrate non-violently. In the present case, it was a blockade of half an hour. Such use of public land is acceptable.
Such a judgment undermines trust in the judiciary
The district court declined to comment on the case to SRF. The competent public prosecutor’s office only says: “Procedural and communication sovereignty lie with the court in these cases.” like dr Stephan Schlegel from the University of Basel confirmed to SRF that the judge acted within his legal leeway.
National Councilor and lawyer Barbara Steinemann (ZH) does not see it that way. She criticizes the decision. “Such a verdict undermines trust in the judiciary and leads to idle times. The public prosecutor’s office is forced to call the next instance, where the law is then correctly applied.” The judge’s statements are clearly political and have no place in the courtroom.
In the left camp, on the other hand, there is cautious optimism. The Zurich SP councilor Nadina Diday says about the case: “It is an important signal that the judiciary has come to realize that we are running out of time.”
It remains to be seen whether there will now be a great turning point in jurisprudence. Criminal law expert Schlegel notes: “I was surprised by the absoluteness of the statements made by the judge in question, who would refrain entirely from convictions in such cases in the future.”
It shouldn’t be much time before the next case. This Friday, climate activists demonstrated again in several Swiss cities – including Zurich – under the hashtag #Zuheiss.