These eight people had been sentenced to fines ranging from 250 to 600 euros on September 16, 2020 by the Bordeaux Court of Appeal.
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Eight “dropouts” of presidential portraits of Emmanuel Macron in four town halls in Gironde in May 2019 were released on Wednesday April 27 by the Toulouse Court of Appeal, announced the ANV-COP 21 collective to which these activists belong. Their action was part of the national campaign “Let’s pick up Macron” during which, according to the collective, “151 portraits have been taken down”.
These eight people had been sentenced to fines ranging from 250 to 600 euros on September 16, 2020 by the Bordeaux Court of Appeal. They had been found guilty of gang robbery and complicity in gang robbery, after having “off hook” portraits of the President of the Republic in four town halls in the Arcachon basin.
The Bordeaux Court of Appeal had notably considered that freedom of expression could never justify an infringement. However, the Court of Cassation considered, on September 22, 2021, that taking down a portrait of the President of the Republic to denounce France’s inaction in terms of climate change could not be assimilated to theft and fall under the freedom of expression. She had therefore quashed the decision and the appeal of the “dropouts” was retried in Toulouse on February 15.