Vatican City
RNS
Two environmental activists have been found guilty of vandalism for gluing themselves to a statue in the Vatican Museums. In the conclusion of the much-talked-about trial on Monday, Vatican judges sentenced the activists to nine months in prison and charged them a €1,500 fine with a suspended sentence of five years.
Guido Viero, 61, and Ester Goffi, 26, glued themselves to the statue of Laocoön and His Sons, in the famed Vatican Museums last summer. A third activist, Laura Zorzini, filmed the other two in action with her phone. Zorzini was sentenced to pay a €120 fine.
Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) activists Ester Goffi, left, and Guido Viero demonstrate at The Vatican, on Wednesday, 24th May, 2023, where they are on trial for having staged a protest in August, 2022, inside the Vatican Museums. PICTURE: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino.
Vatican City only has three prison cells, and its courts rarely sentence individuals to jail.
The activists belong to the environmentalist group Ultima Generazione, “Last Generation”, which has become famous in Italy in recent years for drawing attention to the climate crisis through acts of vandalism targeting the country’s famed historical sites.
“Nine months of jail for one gram of glue,” Ultima Generazione commented on Twitter. “An exaggerated sentence, which doesn’t want to recognize the drama of the situation that pushed to protest.”
The activists will also have to pay a €120 euro fine for trespassing. Viero and Goffi will have to compensate the Vatican City State for the damage done to the statue for a total of €28,148.
The judges decided the offence will not be added to the Vatican’s criminal records unless the eco-activists transgress again.
Speaking to RNS on the day of the second trial hearing on 24th May, Last Generation activists said they hoped Pope Francis would intercede for Goffi and Viero.
“He is more radical than we are,” said Tommaso Juhasz, a member of the Last Generation. “If one reads Laudato Si’ and what it says and what it demands, it’s much more radical than we are,” he added, referencing Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical promoting the care for the environment and the need for nations to come together to fight climate change.
Last Generation declined to comment by the time this article was published.
