Two Just Stop Oil supporters, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, who threw soup over Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”, have been found guilty of criminal damage exceeding £5,000.
Judge Hehir has warned the pair to expect a custodial sentence. Sentencing will occur on 27th September.
In October 2022, the two Just Stop Oil supporters entered Room 43 of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, where Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ is displayed. Just after 11am, they removed their jackets to reveal Just Stop Oil t-shirts and threw the contents of two tins of Heinz Tomato soup over the painting, which is protected by glass. Following this, they glued themselves to the wall beneath the artwork.
Judge Hehir, who recently issued the longest prison sentences for peaceful climate action in UK history to the Whole Truth Five, presided over the trial. During that trial, he denied the defendants all defences in law and barred any mention of the climate crisis, preventing them from giving testimony on their reasons for taking action and repeatedly ordered their arrests for insisting on fulfilling their oath to tell the whole truth. The judge justified his decision by characterising the act of throwing soup on the painting as ‘violent’.
Main Image: Copyright Just stop Oil
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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