Overview
- On July 3, 2025, the European Court of Human Rights rejected the appeal by 11 Action Non-Violente COP21 activists convicted for removing Macron portraits in 2019, affirming suspended fines of €200–500 as proportionate.
- Two judges dissented, warning that the sanctions risk undermining political expression and novel collective protest methods.
- Judges highlighted the portraits’ low market value and nonofficial status, ruling that the removals amounted to symbolic environmental protest set against record-breaking heat waves.
- Activists and their lawyer Paul Mathonnet denounced the ruling as a setback for freedom of expression and said they would appeal to the court’s Grand Chamber.
- The decision follows a 2022 Cour de cassation judgment upholding fines and a 2023 acquittal of another portrait-removal group, illustrating split judicial approaches to climate civil disobedience.