A court in Valencia has acquitted the eleven Greenpeace activists accused of disturbing the peace for blocking a gas tanker from entering the Port of Sagunto in 2021. This is stated in the ruling, released on October 6, which finds that there were no “acts of violence or intimidation sufficient to seriously disturb the public peace as required by the criminal offense.”
The ruling, issued by the judge of Courtroom 8 of the Criminal Division of the Valencia Court of First Instance, may be appealed, according to the High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community.
The prosecution sought a five-year prison sentence
The prosecution sought a five-year prison sentence for each of the eleven defendants charged with an alleged crime of aggravated public disorder. The case had become one of the most closely followed by human rights and environmental organizations, and Greenpeace described it as the most dangerous trial in European history against a peaceful climate protest.
The events date back to October 2021, when Greenpeace’s ship Esperanza entered the port of Sagunto to protest the arrival of a vessel from the United States carrying methane. After several hours of peaceful resistance, according to the organization, the Civil Guard boarded the vessel, cut its anchors, and towed it to port.
Five years later, the trial was scheduled for September 23. Two days earlier, 40 activists unfurled a giant eye-shaped banner, 26 meters in diameter, over the dome of the Hemisfèric at the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. Next to it, they hung two others bearing the slogans “The World is Watching” and “Activism is not a crime.”
Greenpeace had warned that, if convictions were handed down, Spain would have become one of the few countries where activists from the organization have been jailed. It cited the 2013 case in Russia as a precedent, when 30 activists spent months in a Siberian prison after protesting against fossil fuels.
Eva Saldaña, executive director of Greenpeace Spain and Portugal, welcomed the ruling: “Today we breathe a sigh of immense relief and joy, but also with the unwavering conviction that we should never have had to get to this point.”
Saldaña described the ruling as “a victory for 11 brave individuals who have endured five years of unjust uncertainty for peacefully standing up against fossil fuels.” He added that the acquittal “is not just a triumph for Greenpeace: it is a collective victory that puts a stop to the criminalization of activism and reinforces the right to protest at a critical moment for democracy.”
“Peaceful protest is an essential tool for defending our rights and our future,” she emphasized. “Today, the courts have confirmed that dignity cannot be criminalized. We will continue to speak out and take action whenever necessary.”