Eight Just Stop Oil supporters acquitted of public nuisance, while three found guilty for disabling petrol pumps
https://juststopoil.org/2025/08/28/eight-just-stop-oil-supporters-acquitted-of-public-nuisance-while-three-found-guilty-for-disabling-petrol-pumps/
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In their closing speeches, all the defendants were able to refer to the agreed facts in the case, which included several key facts relating to the climate crisis.
In his closing speech, Charles Laurie said: “What is most important? The agreed facts are still going to be true. They won’t go away because you find us guilty. We all know things are getting worse on the climate. We are facing an existential crisis.”
He then read from Adrienne Rich’s poem, Natural Resources :
**My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed, I have to cast my lot with those who age after age, perversely, with no extraordinary power, reconstitute the world.**
Tez Burns said: “I did the right thing despite what the law says, there’s a threat to life.” and then quoted the UN Secretary-General António Guterres “ The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse‑gas emissions from fossil-fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk.”
Following the verdict, Emma Ireland said:
“I am grateful to the Judge and the prosecution for allowing the agreed facts on the climate crisis to have played a part in this trial and for allowing us to speak to our motivations without fear of being found in contempt of court.
“The prosecution spoke about common sense and I was reminded that in 2022, I felt that common sense would have been for the Conservative government to stop issuing new oil and gas licenses, to show a commitment to reducing carbon emissions, and in turn, to offer some protection to humanity from the gravest predictions of climate collapse. When Labour came to power that is what they did, because it’s common sense, right? And it’s common sense now that women have the vote in the UK, but to get this, the suffragettes took direct action and found themselves in court, in front of juries just like us. I’m grateful to the jury for their attentive listening, for their patience, and for the essential part they played in the trial.”