Greenpeace is appealing what it calls a historically large fine imposed by a Danish court over protests against Russian-trading tankers.
The environmental group will have to pay DKK 360,000 ($53,000) if the appeal fails.
It said the case is “extremely fundamental” and could have a major impact on the possibility of mounting peaceful protests against the existential threats posed by the climate crisis.
Greenpeace admitted that in March 2022 its activists tried on several occasions to block a number of Russian tankers sailing through Danish waters with oil to be sold on the world market to fund the Ukraine war.
Greenpeace Denmark campaign manager Sune Scheller, who took part in three of the four protests, said: “The verdict lacks proportionality.
“It was a question of peaceful protests with a few kayaks, swimmers and a small sailing ship, which, in a demonstration against Russian oil, caused some oil tankers to briefly change course in open water.
“It has completely missed the mark when the court punishes that action with such an abnormally large fine.”
Scheller said the appeal is not about whether maritime rules were violated. Rather the focus is on what constitutes “a reasonable punishment for peaceful civil disobedience when it is directed at Danish and other European imports of oil that finance an illegal war against the civilian population in Ukraine”.
Greenpeace said the verdict did not properly take into account the European Convention on Human Rights regarding freedom of expression and demonstration.
“According to the European Convention on Human Rights, the authorities’ sanctions must not only be proportional, there are also even higher requirements for the state’s intervention when it is a matter of serious social relevance,” Scheller said.
Greenpeace said the court took into account previous fines imposed on the lobby group.
This cumulative principle could affect Greenpeace’s ability to protest in future, it claimed.
