Activists who were accused of attempting to “pollute, damage and distort” the Acropolis after they hung a banner from the Athenian monument in protest against China’s policies in Tibet have been acquitted by a Greek court.
In a landmark decision described as a victory for human rights defenders globally, a three-member tribunal threw out the charge on Thursday. A public prosecutor had only minutes earlier pressed for a guilty verdict.
“This is a huge victory for freedom of expression and the right to peaceful protest in Europe,” said Michael Polak, a barrister at the legal aid group Justice Abroad who had flown in from London for the hearing. “It is also a huge win for the Tibetan and Hong Kong people,” he added.
While Chinese authorities have previously acted in the belief that they could extend their repression against ethnic and religious groups around the world, said Polak, “the acquittals today will send a strong message that legitimate peaceful protests and assembly, of the type banned totally in China and Hong Kong, will be allowed even when it hurts the fragile sensibilities of the Beijing and Hong Kong regimes”.
The two student activists, a Tibetan American and Hong Kongese American, had faced up to five years in prison if convicted of a charge viewed as a serious crime under Greek law.
The pair were arrested on 17 October last year as they chanted, “Boycott Beijing 2022” and attempted to drape a Tibetan flag and banner in support of freedom in Hong Kong from scaffolding erected at the site.
The following day, three other activists, including a Briton, were detained and held in police custody after briefly disrupting the Olympic flame-lighting ceremony in protest against China holding the Games.
They too were charged with attempting to pollute, damage and distort a historical monument after waving a Tibetan flag in front of Chinese officials attending the celebration in ancient Olympia. A trial has been set for 1 December after it was postponed in February amid accusations of proceedings being delayed to avoid embarrassing China on the eve of the Games.
In both incidents, the activists claimed they were protesting against the usurpation of Olympic symbols for propaganda purposes by a regime not only responsible for the oppression of Uyghur people that even a much-criticised UN report said may amount to crimes against humanity, but also the crackdown of freedom of expression in Hong Kong and brutal repression of Tibetans.
Rights groups had feared the outcome was far from certain, citing China’s role as a major investor in Greece, but during the hearing, the country’s leading human rights lawyer, Alexis Anagnostakis, defended the pair, arguing that similar protests at the Acropolis and other historic sites in Europe had never before been prosecuted under “the unfounded charge” of attempting to destroy a monument.
“It was a good day for human rights defenders around the world,” he told the Guardian. “In a highly politically sensitive case, it is justice and the rule of law that, in the end, have prevailed.”
