For her first trial, the Swedish climate activist escaped a prison sentence. Greta Thunberg was fined on Monday in Sweden for refusing to comply during a blocking action in mid-June in Malmö. On June 19, the young Swede had, with other activists, blocked the access to the port of this city in southern Sweden in order to protest against the use of fossil fuels and refused to obey police orders.
“It is true that I was at this place that day and that I received an order that I did not listen to, but I want to deny” any crime, pleaded in court Greta Thunberg, according to an AFP photographer on the spot. She explained that she acted “out of necessity” in the face of the climate emergency.
2,500 crowns fine
In theory punishable by six months in prison – a sentence rarely imposed in this type of case – the activist was sentenced to pay a fine of 1,500 crowns (130 euros) and 1,000 crowns in compensation. According to the complaint, 20-year-old Greta Thunberg “participated in a protest that disrupted traffic” and “refused to obey police orders to leave the scene.”
That day, she had taken part in an action alongside the organization “Ta tillbaka framtiden”, in the port of Malmö, where the entrances and exits had been blocked by the immobilization of vehicles and tank trucks. “We choose not to be spectators, and (…) stop [de ce fait] physically fossil fuel infrastructure. We are reclaiming the future,” she said in an Instagram post at the time.
“We have the right to live”
During her interrogation with the police, Greta Thunberg opposed a laconic “no comment” to the questions asked by the investigator, according to the preliminary investigation report of which AFP obtained a copy. Before appearing in her first trial shortly after 11 a.m. Monday, she also declined to answer reporters’ questions.
On the side of the organization “Ta tillbaka framtiden”, the determination to fight against the fossil fuel industry remains intact. “If the court chooses to see our action of [perturber le trafic] as a crime, he can do it, but we know that we have the right to live, and the fossil fuel industry is blocking this right”, reacted Irma Kjellström of “Ta tillbaka framtiden”, who specifies that in total, six activists from the organization will also be tried following the action on the port of Malmö.