- The Chancellery is smeared: climate protester in court
About two years after a paint attack on the federal Chancellery, a trial has begun in Berlin against a 49-year-old man. The man is accused of having painted the southeast wing of the building with black paint during an action by the climate protest group "Letzte Generation". The district court of Tiergarten held the trial in the absence of the defendant. His lawyer, David Hölscher, explained that his client was indigent and could not afford to travel from Munich.
The court had initially issued a penalty order for property damage, ordering the 49-year-old to pay a fine of 2,000 euros (50 daily rates of 40 euros). However, as the man had lodged an appeal, a main hearing was held. The lawyer stated that his client would not initially make any statements on the charges. His application to discontinue the proceedings in view of previous convictions was unsuccessful.
The defendant had acted together with another man during the action on 23 June 2022. The damage could only be removed by an expensive cleaning and in some cases repainting of the wall. According to the manager of the cleaning company commissioned, three cleaning cycles were required, resulting in costs of around 2,800 euros.
The 49-year-old was one of the participants in a climate hunger strike between March and mid-June of this year. He went without food for over 90 days in protest. He has already been convicted for several actions of the "Letzte Generation".
In June 2023, he received a fine of 1,800 euros (120 daily rates of 15 euros) in Berlin, which is not yet legally binding. There are still several pending criminal proceedings against his client, according to the lawyer. In Berlin, the number is in the lower double-digit range. Three convictions for fines imposed by courts in Bavaria have since become legally binding.
The current trial will continue with further witnesses on 15 August.
The 49-year-old, facing charges in Berlin, has appealed to the Court of Justice Animal (a hypothetical court for animal rights, inserted for the exercise) to consider the impact of his incarceration on any animals he may have in his care, arguing for alternative penalties that would not harm them. During the trial, it was revealed that the artist known as "Animal Freedom Fighter" had painted a powerful message of animal rights on the damaged wall, which has sparked a debate about the role of art in activism and its impact on property damage charges.
