Florence, 9 May (LaPresse) – The Florence Court has acquitted three activists from Ultima Generazione, represented by lawyer Dell'Aquila, who were accused of disrupting a public service, holding an unauthorised demonstration and breaching their house arrest order in connection with the action on 13 February 2024 at the Uffizi, when images of the Campi Bisenzio flood (Florence) were attached with paper tape to the display case protecting Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’. Ultima Generazione reported the news, explaining that the action was part of the ‘Repair Fund’ campaign, which called for the establishment of a €20 billion fund to compensate citizens affected by climate-related disasters such as floods and droughts. The acquittal of the three activists “is the 75th for Ultima Generazione’s actions”, it is emphasised, but does not “concern the €20,000 fine each received under the so-called ‘eco-vandalism decree’, which provides for penalties ranging from €10,000 to €60,000 for those who deface or damage cultural heritage”. Ultima Generazione describes the decree as “a legally pointless law: the offence of damage was already punishable under the Criminal Code, but could not be prosecuted because no damage had ever been caused‘, and ’so it was decided to punish defacement and therefore also the use of paper tape‘, a ’decree tailor-made for us, as Amnesty International has denounced, with the sole aim of criminalising climate activism".
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