The public prosecutor wanted imprisonment, the defense attorneys pleaded for acquittal. Now the district court has convicted activists of the “last generation” who had glued themselves to a Rubens painting. On one point, the judge expressly agreed with the activists.
After a sticking action in the Alte Pinakothek, the district court of Munich sentenced three activists of the last generation to fines. The court charged the men with criminal damage to property.
A 25-year-old and a 60-year-old man stuck their fingertips to a gilded frame of a painting by Peter Paul Rubens in August 2022, and a 24-year-old man filmed the action of the last generation. Prosecutors had asked for six months in prison. The defenders had pleaded for acquittal and justified this, among other things, with an emergency in the climate crisis.
The judge affirmed an emergency situation. The climate crisis is a current danger. But there is not even a remote connection between climate protection and damage to the frame. The decision is not yet final. The 24-year-old has already announced that he wants to appeal.