An activist who interrupted the prime minister to expose an “environmental crime” in 2019 has been ordered to pay 300 euros.

The young man who interrupted the then prime minister in 2019 to denounce what he called an “environmental crime” was this Friday sentenced to a €300 fine but will appeal the verdict.

Francisco Pedro, who interrupted António Costa during a party rally to denounce the expansion of Lisbon airport, was acquitted in the first instance, but the Lisbon Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal.

After the verdict was announced, Francisco Pedro Sergio Figueiredo’s lawyer told Lusa that he would appeal and admitted that the case would go to the Constitutional Court.

“We went to the Court of Appeal, ultimately opening the door to the Constitutional Court,” he said.

In 2019, environmental activist interrupted António Costa’s speech at the PS anniversary ceremony to challenge the expansion of Lisbon airport and the construction of a new airport in Montijo.

Security forces quickly removed him from the site, while activists from the Aterra movement, which opposes airport expansion, launched paper airplanes with a banner reading “more planes just for fun.”

In February this year, Judge Sofia Claudino acquitted the young environmentalist of the crime of qualified disobedience, finding that it had not been proven that Francisco Pedro was the organizer of the protest, which the prosecution considered an organized demonstration and not sanctioned by the authorities. Lisbon City Council.

The prosecutor’s office appealed the acquittal to the Court of Appeal, which ruled in his favor and ordered the case to be returned to the first instance for sentencing.

This is what the judge said this Friday at a court hearing at the Justice Campus (“we are only here to pass a verdict”), and at one hearing this Friday she set the penalty at 60 days with a fine of 5 euros per day. , which can be paid in installments or through public works.

Francisco Pedro told the court that human activity is destroying ecosystems, that aviation has a great influence, that air traffic in Lisbon has increased by 100% in 10 years, and asked whether he is condemned for speaking out for what he believes is fair.

The judge responded that it was the Court of Appeal that sentenced him because she had acquitted him, and acknowledged that the punishment could act as a means of intimidation when she responded to an activist’s question whether the punishment was like telling people not to speak out for what they think is fair so as not to be subjected to this (trial).

But he later added: “I don’t think people should be afraid to express their opinions.”

At the end of the trial, the activist told Lusa that he was “clearly being persecuted” and that what was happening was like the world in reverse: spending money on a cause like this when a “crime” was happening. “environmental and environmental issues”, that is, the expansion of aviation.

“People who spend time and energy trying to stop the environmental crisis cannot be persecuted,” he said, adding that sentencing those who report crimes is “unacceptable.”

Sérgio Figueiredo, Francisco Pedro’s lawyer, said that there was a ruling from the Court of Appeal of Porto in a case very similar to this one, which understood that the crime of qualified disobedience could not be considered if it occurred only due to failure to communicate a protest in advance.

Sergio Figueiredo admitted that the activist’s sentence was very close to the legal minimum, which did not invalidate his appeal.