\n Ten Greenpeace activists were cleared of aggravated trespass on Friday after they prevented a tanker carrying Russian diesel from unloading on the River Thames near London.\n<\/p>\n
\n The environmental campaigners occupied a jetty in Grays, eastern Essex, in May, stopping the delivery of 33,000 tonnes of fuel from a Greek-flagged vessel.\n<\/p>\n
\n They claimed they were stopping the funding of Russian state terrorism in Ukraine but were charged with trespass and obstructing a \"lawful activity, namely fuel distribution\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Judge Christopher Williams cleared all 10 after a trial at Chelmsford Magistrates Court, northeast of the British capital, prompting cheers and applause from the defendants.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I take the view it's more than likely the Russian war could be described as terrorism,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Greenpeace UK claimed in a statement that it was the first time a British court had agreed with the argument that the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine was \"terrorism\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The defendants produced several witnesses to testify that revenues from oil and gas exports were being used by Russia to fund the conflict.\n<\/p>\n
\n One of the protesters who was cleared called the verdict \"seismic\" and said it vindicated their actions in full.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The judge has recognised that we are just ordinary people whose conscience compelled us to stop the oil funding Putin's campaign of state terrorism in Ukraine,\" said Zoe Pontida, a 32-year-old teacher from Oxford.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"With every new town flattened by bombs and every new war crime being uncovered, the reason for stopping the flow of money to the Kremlin's death machine has grown stronger.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n She argued that the UK government should have taken similar action \"months ago\" and urged ministers to bring forward a proposed ban on all Russian fossil fuels.\n<\/p>\n
\n The protesters reached the jetty at the Navigator Terminals site by dinghy late on May 15, then attached themselves to the structure, unfurling a banner reading \"oil fuels war\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The tanker Andromeda was unable to dock and was turned around in the early hours the following day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ten Greenpeace activists were cleared of aggravated trespass on Friday after they prevented a tanker carrying Russian diesel from unloading on the River Thames near London. The environmental campaigners occupied a jetty in Grays, eastern Essex, in May, stopping the delivery of 33,000 tonnes of fuel from a Greek-flagged vessel. They claimed they were stopping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-108535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n