There have been victories in courts and good news in the UK this month. In addition, there are two solidarity messages that you can show your support for, and a new report on SLAPPs that you can read. Have a look!

NB: We know this is only a small selection, if you have any news, solidarity call out or resource you want us to include in the next bulletin – don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] 

NEWS & COURT CASES

France

• Courts continue to criminalise the right to protest for Palestine:In Paris XR often climb up the statue on Place de la République to drape it up during various demonstrations. On January 16th an activist was tried for placing a symbol for peace in Palestine / Israel on the statue. The court found him guilty of participating in a proscribed demonstration, even though said demonstration had been kettled several kilometers away from him. The same type of action when undertaken for Ukraine or environmentalist causes had not led to any charges being brought forward. More on this Instagram post. 

• ‘State negrophobia’ graffiti: the Supreme Court strikes back The French Supreme Court has struck down the Paris Court of Appeal’s guilty verdict against a defendant who had sprayed graffiti and poured black paint at the foot of seventeenth-century statesman Colbert’s statue outside the National Assembly. The Supreme Court found that the Appeals  Court had been wrong in (a) not finding a connection between the action and a debate of public interest; (b) basing its decision on how little effect the action had on public debate (and not just its political nature) ; (c) having required the chosen tactic to be necessary (when other legal tactics were available). Full decision here.   

Netherlands

• Bonaire residents, who took The Netherlands to court (and won!), share their feelings about the historic climate victory. In 2024, residents of Dutch-Caribbean island Bonaire went to court to demand a fair climate policy from the Dutch State, backed by evidence that showed how climate impacts on the island will intensify under current policies.⁣ The court ordered The Netherlands to take urgent Climate Action This is the first time that a government has been forced by a court to take concrete measures to protect an overseas territory. ⁣Read more

• The Amsterdam City Council has passed a legally binding ban on advertising fossil fuels and meat products in public spaces across the city. This makes it the first capital city in the world to prohibit such advertising through local legislation. Read more

UK

• Following a judicial review and a campaign by Defend Our Juries, the ban on Palestine Action has been ruled unlawful But the group remains banned for now to allow for further legal arguments and to give the government time to consider an appeal. Read more on Defend Our Juries Insta, An analysis in the Guardian 

• Verdicts coming in for Filton 24 trial: No convictions. After 8 days of deliberation, the jury acquitted Charlotte Head, Samuel Corner, Ellie Kamio, Fatema Zainab Rajwani, Zoe Rogers and Jordan Devlin of the most serious charge: aggravated burglary but the jury could not decide on criminal damage charges against all defendants, as well as allegations of violent disorder against Head, Corner, and Kamio and will now face a retrial. However, the burglary charges against 18 other defendants who are accused of taking part in the break-in will be dropped. Read more and on BBC

SOLIDARITY AND CROWDFUNDING 

France: €200,000 in costs and damages!In the bulletin’s previous issue we covered the trial of activists who had blocked a train and empty part of its cargo. The court’s verdict was harsh by French standards – a €5,000 fine for seven of the twelve defendants (suspended for all but one) but the real difficulty is the €200,000 awarded in costs and damages. Read an illustrated summary of the trial here and send them support here. 

Sweden: Support Aurora to sue the Swedish state to get it to do its legal duty and take sufficient climate action. Learn more (EN below) and donate.

RESOURCES & EVENTS

• Legal in Action Conference 2026: The next Legal in Action conference will be held this coming autumn. We are excited to once again bring together a range of people who are actively countering the repression of activists. In order to ensure the conference serves its purpose, we are calling on you to send us some recommendations. We are looking for activists busying themselves with the law and various kinds of action, for legal teams, relevant NGOs, networks, organisations – and also lawyers you think we could reach out to? We’d be especially grateful for contacts in Poland, Serbia, Portugal, Spain and Italy. Email us [email protected].

• New SLAPPs report: Democracy in the dock. A report by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, published in 2025, found that abusive lawsuits were continuing to rise across Europe, despite the introduction of the EU’s new anti-SLAPP law in May 2024. Countries have until May 2026 to transpose the law into national legislation. Read more

About Legally Green

Since autumn of 2022, the Movement Hub coordinates Legally Green – an informal network of lawyers who support activists across Europe and activist-led legal support groups. The network has over 100 members from over 60 organizations in more than 20 countries in Europe.
The network operates via mailing list and meets bi-monthly to share experience, discuss cases, trends, get help, learn from each other to increase our collective capacities to resist legal repressions. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions, or wish to join the network.