German court imposes almost two years jailtime for climate protester participating in road block

A court in Germany has imposed a nearly two-year sentence for a road block climate protest by the activist group Last Generation (Letzte Generation). The local court in Berlin ruled that 65-year old Winfried Lorenz should receive a sentence of one year and ten months in prison without parole, of which one year was to be served for participating in one single protest, the activist group said. According to Last Generation, the sentence, which has not yet come into effect, is the longest sentence imposed on one of its members so far. A spokesperson for the court told public broadcaster RBB that this finding could not be confirmed since “there are no statistics that cover all sentences imposed by German courts.”

Lorenz participated in several protests by the activist group that became infamous for its disruptive actions in 2022 and 2023. The activist’s lawyer, Lukas Theune, said the ruling was disproportionately harsh: “such a high sentence for someone without a criminal record and who has done nothing other than taking part in a sitting blockade and refusing a deal offered by the judge has nothing to do with implementation of the penal code.” Defendant Lorenz said the judge’s arguments failed to acknowledge “that we are in humanity’s biggest crisis so far, which is escalating every day,” adding that “there is nothing more sensible that protesting policies that push us and our children deeper into the climate catastrophe.” The activist instead called for “sentencing and stopping those who enrich themselves by burning our livelihood.” Lorenz is set to appeal against the ruling.

Several activists, including Lorenz, had previously been acquitted for participating in road-blocking protests in other court cases. A judge in Rostock argued that the protesters’ road blocks had not exceeded “the socially acceptable level” when explaining the court’s decision to acquit the activists, public broadcaster NDR reported. Last Generation spokeswoman Lina Johnsen said that authorities did not know how to treat the activists. “The government refuses to take responsibility and passes on the conflict to other institutions who are overwhelmed by this and arrive at completely different judgements.”

The activist group Last Generation at the beginning of the year announced an end to its controversial road blocking actions and instead said that a "new era of our peaceful, civil resistance begins." Berlin police counted 550 Last Generation protests in the capital in 2023 alone, and the city’s public prosecutor launched 3,700 proceedings against the activists over the past two years.