According to the Lisbon District Attorney’s Office (PGDL), six members of the Climáximo movement who invaded the airfield in Tire, Cascais, in December 2023 have been sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for the same period.
In a note published on its page, PGDL points out that from a legal point of view, the defendants were also sentenced to a 135-day fine, replaced by an equal number of hours of community service.
The prosecution filed the charges in January and on July 29 the verdict was handed down by the local minor crimes court of Cascais, which sentenced “the six defendants in summary judgment for committing, in collaboration with others, a crime aimed at infringing the safety of air, water or rail transport, punishable by 15 months’ imprisonment.”
The defendants were also found guilty of committing offences of trespassing and causing damage.
According to the PGDL note, the court “found that on 6 December 2023, the defendants, members of an environmental activist organisation, entered the reserved security area of the Cascais Municipal Aerodrome and then chained them to the landing gear of an aircraft parked there and sprayed it with paint.”
The court also found that the defendants’ actions resulted in the closure of air traffic to and from the airport, which resulted in the diversion of one flight and the cancellation of 11 flights.
The verdict is not yet final and the defendants can still appeal it, PGDL points out.
Six young people from Climáximó were arrested by the PSP on December 6 after they invaded the municipal airport of Tires, in the municipality of Cascais, Lisbon district, where they painted a private jet and chained themselves to it in protest against luxury flights.
Young people protested against the polluting emissions produced by the luxury aviation sector, saying in a statement released on the day of the events that “flying on a private jet between London and New York” emits more CO2. [dióxido de carbono] than a Portuguese family makes in a whole year.”