climate
Formation of a criminal organization: activists charged
The “People Against Oil” alliance is calling for a meeting at Washingtonplatz in Berlin this Wednesday. photo
© Swen Pförtner/dpa
Attacks against the PCK oil refinery, the airport and a Monet painting: The public prosecutor’s office accuses members of the Last Generation and sees a criminal organization at work.
The defendants are said to have carried out several attacks against facilities at the PCK Schwedt oil refinery and an oil pipeline in northeast Brandenburg and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. There are also activities at the capital airport BER and in the Barberini Museum in Potsdam. Since December 2022, the Neuruppin public prosecutor’s office has been examining the suspicion that there were searches in several federal states.
The Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office has also been investigating five climate protection activists from the Last Generation group for over a year on suspicion of being members of a criminal organization and against two others for supporting them. The Flensburg public prosecutor’s office is also conducting a corresponding investigation.
Reaction of climate activists
The State Protection Criminal Chamber of the Potsdam Regional Court must now decide when the trial against the five environmental activists will begin. The Last Generation always spoke of an attempt at intimidation and complained that their protest was being unfairly criminalized.
According to Last Generation, one of the defendants said: “What a devastating signal to all people who are peacefully involved in this crisis of humanity to drag us to court as a criminal organization.” This Wednesday, the “People Against Oil” alliance called for a meeting at Washingtonplatz in Berlin.
Public prosecutor justifies charges
The public prosecutor’s office in Neuruppin announced: “The charge concerns the accused as members of a subgroup of the ‘Last Generation’, who, in differentiation from the entire group of the ‘Last Generation’, declared themselves willing to commit crimes of some serious nature and participated in them.”
There is sufficient suspicion that they and other members of this subgroup “agreed, over a longer period of time, which lasted at least until May 2023, to commit crimes together and in some cases with a strict distribution of tasks, which are at least punishable by a prison sentence of at least two years , to commit”.
It concerns crimes in the period from April 2022 to May 2023. In addition to the accusation of forming a criminal organization, it also involves disruption of public operations, coercion and damage to property.
After disruptive actions, investigators carried out searches in several federal states against the members of the Last Generation in December 2022. The proceedings by the Neuruppin public prosecutor’s office had triggered a controversial political debate. The Greens and the Left criticized the actions against the Last Generation. In contrast, Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen and Justice Minister Susanne Hoffmann (both CDU) saw evidence of a criminal organization after the raid.
This is what the defendants are accused of
According to the prosecution, the defendants – with alternating involvement – are responsible for manipulating a so-called slide station and an intermediate pumping station for supplying oil to the PCK refinery in Schwedt in May and October 2022. The company PCK and Mineralölverbundleitung GmbH were damaged. The public prosecutor’s office listed more than ten cases. In addition to disruptions in Schwedt, Grünheide and Seefeld in Brandenburg, there were also disruptions in Woldegk and Borrentin in the Mecklenburg Lake District.
The environmental activists are also charged with an attack on a painting by the impressionist Claude Monet in the Barberini Museum in Potsdam. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the value of the picture “Grain Stack” is estimated at 111 million euros. The last generation spoke of an attack with mashed potatoes in autumn 2022. They are also accused of blocking runways at BER Airport and of a paint attack on a private plane that caused damage of around 90,000 euros, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
The Last Generation says it wants to increase pressure on the federal government to take stronger action against the climate crisis. The group became known primarily for road blockades in which members stuck themselves to the asphalt. In Berlin, the Senate Justice Administration concluded after an inspection in 2023 that the climate group is not classified as a criminal organization.