15-Month Prison Sentence Tossed For Oz Climate Activist; Police Lied That Protest Blocked Ambulance
A 15-month jail sentence imposed on a climate protester who blocked one lane on the Sydney Harbour Bridge with a truck has been quashed. Deanna “Violet” Coco, 32, was issued with a 12-month conditional release order on Wednesday after district court judge Mark Williams heard she had been initially imprisoned on false information provided by the NSW police.
EDIT
The Coalition passed the anti-protest laws with Labor’s backing in April last year. It includes fines of up to $22,000 and up to two years in jail for anyone found to have blocked major infrastructure in a way which “seriously disrupts or obstructs vehicles or pedestrians”. Coco was the first person to be jailed under the laws and was granted bail in December.
Coco and three others drove a Hino truck on to the Harbour Bridge in morning peak hour on 13 April, 2022, as part of an environmental protest against climate inaction for Fireproof Australia. Climbing on to the roof of the vehicle alongside Alan Russell Glover, the pair lit orange flares and livestreamed the protest. Two others, Karen Fitzgibbon and Jay Larbalestier, sat on the ground in front of the truck and superglued their hands to the roadway.
EDIT
On Wednesday, Williams heard an appeal by Coco of the 15-month jail sentence imposed in the local court last December.He noted police had included a “false fact” and a “false assertion” in their case against Coco that an ambulance with flashing sirens and lights had been impeded from crossing the bridge to an emergency because of the protest. President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Josh Pallas, said the revelation the police included false information in their case against Coco was “shocking”.
EDIT
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/15/climate-activist-deanna-violet-cocos-15-month-jail-sentence-overturned-on-appeal
= new reply since forum marked as read
