‘Not acceptable in a democracy’: UN expert condemns lengthy Just Stop Oil sentences
Michel Forst, UN special rapporteur, joins growing chorus of voices criticising jail terms handed to five defendants

Damien Gayle, Helena Horton and Ben Quinn
Fri 19 Jul 2024 13.15 EDT

The lengthy multi-year sentences handed to Just Stop Oil activists are “not acceptable in a democracy”, a UN special rapporteur has said, as the government faced growing pressure to reverse the previous administration’s “hardline anti-protest” approach.

Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur for environmental defenders, joined a growing chorus of voices condemning the sentences handed down to the five defendants for planning non-violent protests on the M25.

But the government said it would not intervene in the case, with Keir Starmer’s spokesman saying judgments and sentencing were matters for independent judges, “and it is not for politicians to intervene”.

Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin were each sentenced to four years in prison this week after being found guilty of planning disruptive protests on the M25. A fifth defendant, Roger Hallam, was sentenced to five years by a judge who said he “sat at the very highest level of the conspiracy”.

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