SYDNEY: A climate protestor Violet Coco Jailed in a case that sparked protest in Australia has had her sentence overturned on appeal.
Deanna “Violet” Coco was given a 15-month prison term for blocking a traffic lane on the Sydney Harbor Bridge last April. Advocates said the decision was part of a broader crackdown on protests in the country and called it disproportionate.
A judge on Wednesday overturned the sentence, calling it based on false information by police.
Last year, Coco and three others protested to draw attention to the climate emergency. They parked a hired truck on one lane of the Harbour bridge, climbed on top, and lightened a flare.
She was booked under new New South Wales (NSW) laws which introduced harsher penalties for protests on critical infrastructure – such as tunnels, roads, bridges, and rail lines. In other states, similar laws have been introduced too.
NSW Police stated that the protest had caused tremendous disruption and had ensnared paramedics en route to an emergency, a claim they have subsequently dropped.
Coco entered a guilty plea to breaking the law regarding traffic, using a flare, and defying orders from the police to move on.
When handing down her sentence in December, Magistrate Allison Hawkins referred to the 32-year-“selfish old’s emotional actions” as causing the “entire city to suffer” and frequently emphasized the police assertion that the demonstration had stopped an ambulance, which was still presented as truth at the time.
She also rejected Coco’s request for release while she filed an appeal; this decision was overturned after the activist spent over two weeks in jail.
Judge Mark Williams, who heard Coco’s appeal, disputed police claim about the magnitude of the disturbance and disregarded claims that she posed a “threat to the community.” He found that she had been imprisoned on a “false factual basis,” throwing aside the sentence and imposing a 12-month good behavior bond. Coco has now said she will ask NSW Police for compensation.
Alan Russell Glover, who had joined Coco in the protest, had his sentence lowered by Justice Williams as well.
UN condemned the case
The UN’s special rapporteur on peaceful assembly condemned the case and expressed his “concern” at Coco’s punishment.
Clément Voule stated in December that nonviolent demonstrators should never be charged with a crime or put in jail.
According to the NSW state government, the legislation is essential to protect people’s “way of life.”
