Study: Climate sticker resistance is treated as “crime rather than insult”.

Courts make political judgments in trials against climate activists without being aware of it, according to a study. Thus, the majority of courts did not assess climate change from a human rights perspective.

Judicial authorities in Switzerland regarded climate change as a fact, but assumed that the consequences and solutions would not belong in court, according to a study by the universities of Bern and Lausanne, reported on Thursday by the newspaper “Le Courrier”.

Nonviolent resistance will be prosecuted as a crime, not a felony. Usually the sentences were based on coercion. Based on the analysis of some 150 judgments, the authors of the study conclude that the courts would give less weight to freedom of expression and assembly than to the right to private property and freedom of movement.

With this supposedly apolitical focus on the criminal consequences, the judges ignored not only the democratic rights of the activists, but also human rights such as the right to life and a healthy environment.

In addition, the judiciary refused to talk about justice in a changing society, its own role in upholding human rights and democracy. This is precisely what makes their judgments political, the study argues.

Only two courts upheld the emergency article in the penal code for the accused. The Federal Supreme Court has since overturned these rulings.

According to the researchers, it is also surprising how few judges have referred to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights since 1974. Climate change experts would almost never be allowed in.

In addition, according to the information, there are major cantonal differences and contradictions in case law on climate activists. The proposition that the judge would only apply a law does not hold.

The judges would feel much more compelled to shape and specify the existing law. After a clarification in the Federal Supreme Court, many appeals are likely to follow in the Human Rights Court.

The study also notes that some courts are questioning the legality of searches, preliminary arrests and DNA samples taken from climate activists. In general, however, the impression arises that judgments and police practices have a deterrent effect. The measures were also directed against other social movements. (saw/sda)