Credit Suisse: appeal filed in Strasbourg
Four members of Lausanne Climate Action filed on Friday morning an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. They are thus challenging the decision of the Federal Court which dismissed twelve activists of the NGO who occupied the Lausanne premises of Credit Suisse in 2018.
Pro-climate activists in front of Credit Suisse in Zurich.
Taddeo Cerletti
The pro-climate activists were accompanied by five of their lawyers as well as representatives of four NGOs, Climate Strike, Extinction Rebellion, Doctors4XR and Grands-Parents pour le climat.
“Worried that human rights, including that of freedom of expression and to demonstrate, are violated in Switzerland for a cause as important as the climate, the activists of Lausanne Climate Action (LAC) denounce the situation to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (CEDH), “LAC said in a statement.
On November 22, 2018, twelve activists occupied the hall of Credit Suisse in Lausanne for an hour. Disguised as Roger Federer, the bank’s ambassador, they had engaged in a game of wild tennis to denounce the banking giant’s investments in fossil fuels.
Acquitted then sentenced
Denounced for trespassing, these twelve members of LAC were first acquitted at first instance by the Police Court, before being sentenced in September 2020 by the Cantonal Court following an appeal from the Vaud public prosecutor.
In their defense, the activists had pleaded the state of lawful necessity, a provision of the Penal Code which justifies an illegal action under certain conditions. However, according to the Federal Court (TF), this provision cannot be applied in this case.
The judges of Mon Repos considered that there was no “imminent danger” at the time of the action carried out by the militants, within the meaning of article 17 CP. The TF added that the occupation of the bank was not aimed at protecting a concrete legal asset: the goal was to defend collective interests, either the environment, the health or the well-being of the population. But the law excludes the application of the state of necessity in such situations.
The appellants may not invoke the “safeguard of legitimate interests” either. This reason supposes that their action was the only one possible. However, several legal methods (demonstration, media intervention, etc.) were at their disposal to alert public opinion, the high court had further asserted.
Freedom of expression and assembly
The TF decision now sets a precedent in matters of civil disobedience in the fight against global warming. In Strasbourg, activists hope above all to assert two fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the ECHR in terms of the freedom to demonstrate peacefully: freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
The pro-climate activists had affirmed in September that any convicted persons at first instance would systematically appeal, request joint trials at the Cantonal Court and go to the ECHR if necessary.
A long series of trials against some 200 XR climate activists for civil disobedience actions that took place in 2019 and 2020 in Lausanne is currently underway. A dozen trials are scheduled by the end of the year for dozens of defendants.
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