SUMMARY

The Ghent court of appeal has heavily reduced the sentences of 11 protesters who were accused of causing criminal damage for their role in destroying a genetically modified potato crop in 2011

“Not hardened criminals”

A group of protesters who objected to a test project of genetically modified potatoes have had their sentences drastically reduced by the Ghent court of appeal, after the court threw out a conviction for criminal conspiracy.

The action by the so-called Field Liberation Movement took place in the East Flemish town of Wetteren in May 2011. The target: a field of test crops being grown as part of an experiment run by the University of Ghent, the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology and the Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research, both agencies of the Flemish government. The activists destroyed a third of the potato crop and clashed with police, who made 40 arrests.

In the initial trial, a group of 11 activists was convicted of criminal damage and conspiracy, and given suspended sentences of three to six months as well as fines of €550.

The appeal court has now reduced the sentences to one month suspended.