UK Politics

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UK court ruling a threat to jurors who acquit pro-Palestine activists on moral grounds (www.middleeasteye.net)

submitted 1 month ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk

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It relates to a criminal case against five women charged with criminal damage for breaking the windows of JP Morgan Bank’s European head office at Victoria Embankment over its fossil fuel investments.

During the trial, which began in February 2024 at Inner London Crown Court, protesters held signs reminding jurors that they have an “absolute right” to acquit a defendant on conscience.

Judge Silas Reid instructed the jury to disregard the placards, saying they were “misstating the law".

He then told them that it is a “criminal offence for a juror to do anything from which it can be concluded that a decision will be made on anything other than the evidence in the case”.

The women were handed suspended sentences, but launched an appeal on the basis that Judge Reid had wrongly directed the jury that it would be a criminal offence for them to acquit the defendants according to conscience.

They argued that in telling jurors this, he was pressuring them to return a guilty verdict. They said this made their convictions “unsafe”.

The campaign group Defend Our Juries (DOJ) said the ruling is the latest in a slew of efforts by the government to crack down on a growing trend of juries acquitting members of social movements – including pro-Palestine and climate activists – according to conscience.

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