Zurich court convicts Credit Suisse climate protesters

😌😌climate activists found guilty of coercion

    A Zurich court on Friday convicted nine climate activists who protested outside Credit Suisse headquarters in 2019 over the Swiss bank's financing of fossil fuel projects on charges including trespass and coercion.

Nine climate activists who blocked Credit Suisse's Zurich headquarters in July 2019 have been given a suspended fine.

The court sided with the prosecutor in its Friday ruling. The defence team had unsuccessfully sought an acquittal or even the dismissal of the case. 

Protests against big banks' activities that contribute to global warming have prompted a number of legal disputes over the last two years.

Seeking to pressure Swiss banks into halting the financing of fossil fuels, environmental activists blocked entrances to Credit Suisse in Zurich and UBS in Basel during the July 2019 demonstration before police intervened and arrested some protesters.

A judge on Friday ruled that, despite the "notorious" and undisputed nature of climate change and the fact that Credit Suisse "as a bank enables investments that ultimately run counter to climate protection", the defendants should have used milder means to draw attention to their cause.

They were given suspended fines, conditional on good behaviour.

Only two defendants agreed to speak during the trial, which took place on Wednesday.  

The nine who were convicted were protesting against, in their view, climate-damaging banking activities and to demand that the big banks immediately stop financing coal, oil and gas extraction. 

"Contrary to the opinion of the defendants, there is no state of emergency, in the legal sense, that could justify conduct that is fundamentally prohibited," the Zurich court said in a statement.

The activists also placed plant pots and locked bicycles between them. Police had to break the chains and haul the protestors away. They arrested 64 people that day; 51 activists were prosecuted. 

The case is one of several involving acts of civil disobedience by youth protesters that have reached Swiss courts, with mixed results so far.

Credit Suisse said it took note of the verdict.

In January, a Basel court cleared five of the activists who had protested outside UBS's branch in Basel during the same demonstration organised by the Climate Justice and Break Free groups. The presiding judge said their protest had been conducted in a considered and non-violent manner.

Protesters who dressed in tennis whites pretending to be superstar Roger Federer to underscore his sponsorship deal with Credit Suisse were acquitted by a Lausanne court on the grounds that their actions were necessitated by the "imminent danger" of climate change, only for a higher court to reverse the decision last year. They are appealing.

Eight of the nine defendants on Friday were sentenced for both coercion and trespassing, receiving suspended fines of 400 Swiss francs ($440) each, while the ninth defendant received a suspended fine of 300 francs on the sole charge of coercion, the court said.

The ruling may be appealed.