Hi Thomas, are you on your way?
Thomas has a hearing at the court today.
He has been charged with criminal damage.
He is tired of standing by while Czech energy providers are burying the future of his kids.
Why does Thomas think, that we need to create as much
pressure as possible right now,
even at the cost of breaking the law?
My name is Thomas Franke,
I was born in East Germany.
In the summer of 1989
I moved to Prague to study
and have lived here ever since.
I had to take a day off from work today
because I have a hearing at the court of Prague 4.
The issue is that I spray-painted on a building of the energy giant "ČEZ".
When the protest is over, Thomas begins to write
"2025" on the building.
I'm pretty nervous,
I hope it turns out well.
He wants to point out that
we must reach carbon neutrality much sooner than in 2050.
[*ČEZ is the major energy provider in the Czech Republic.
The company is owned to 70% by the state and criticized for selling brown coal power plants
instead of closing them permanently.]
So, Mr. Franke, you have just commited
the criminal offense of property damage.
I hereby arrest you...
Actually, the judge already sentenced me,
but I appealed, and the first hearing will occur today
where we will again negotiate
about the... "offence".
The judge sentenced me
to a fine of 10.000 CZK [ca. 400 EUR],
or an alternative of one month in jail.
I plan to tell her
that if she comes to the same conclusion today,
then I'll refuse to pay the fine,
and will rather give those 10.000 crowns to the protesting students
from Fridays for Future
and instead I'll rather go to jail for one month.
HOW DID THOMAS PLAN HIS DEFENSE? Then I would like to say
that we have already known about climate change for 30 years.
Margaret Thatcher, the British prime minister of that time,
spoke at the UN in November 1989
about climate change being a fact.
That we should stop talking
and start to act.
Despite that, the last 30 years have been wasted.
ČEZ produces more emissions than
all Czech car, truck and airplane transport
and industry combined.
Unlike in many other countries of the EU,
power generation in the Czech Republic constitutes a large part
of the carbon footprint of every citizen.
It's because ČEZ and the other energy providers run coal mines
to enable the export of cheap,
but dirty electricity.
Other noxious fumes emitted by ČEZ
cause 730 early deaths every year
and various other health problems
which, combined with lost work days,
result in an economic damage
of 1.8 billion EUR.
That's several times more than the company's yearly profit.
I also want to speak about what is going to happen
to my boys after ten, twenty, thirty years,
if they are wasted again.
Well...
their life is going to be incredibly difficult.
Because, of course, we are headed to
deplete all reserves of water
and food
and it will...
It will lead to wars
and internal conflicts.
That's why I want, in the end,
to plead to the judge to think
of her children, and mine.
Also for her to understand that
I believe that my actions are a necessity.
And I want to avert that,
what is otherwise going to come.
WHAT WAS THE RESULT OF THE HEARING?
So, the hearing has ended several minutes ago
and our friend Thomas was sentenced
to 100 hours of community service.
The judge declared Thomas guilty.
Thomas defended himself by pointing out that
first: no damage was done. Even if it would've been done,
it would be incomparable with the damage caused by ČEZ.
Second, he states he does what he does
for his personal conviction and for his children.
Because the environment is
a topic that has been discussed for years and yet
not enough measures are taken to change anything.
ČEZ is one of the biggest subjects here,
in the Czech Republic, who harm the environment.
But the judge argued mainly, that
civil disobedience is not a... legitimate
means to achieve some change,
a change in society.
She pointed out that
just buying a can of spray paint
harms the environment in some way
and she also said that
the EU was the most important player.
She explicitly said that we, as the Czech Republic, were under EU's rule,
so we should be pressing on the EU
to implement some sort of quota
for damaging or protecting of the environment,
and therefore she doesn't consider Thomas's action to be legitimate at all.
So she passed a verdict
that she found Thomas guilty.
Nevertheless, what I consider important, is that
Thomas very well explained
his personal motivation. Why does he think
he, as a citizen, must do at least that,
what is in his power,
and that he considers his chosen
way of protest to be completely legitimate.
Now, Thomas will have time to
decide whether to file an appeal
and keep fighting the sentence in some way.
HOW DID THOMAS REACT? There are several aspects. First,
also the testimony of the security guard
that was read in the court
confirmed that we didn't cause -
- I didn't cause - any damage,
so it is startling that I was sentenced for it now.
Second, speaking of interfering with other people's rights,
that's exactly what I was trying to talk about.
ČEZ interferes every day
in many people's lives in an adverse way
by causing 730 early deaths per year.
That means two people per day!
Then, of course, every human,
and every animal as well, leaves some footprint in nature,
but the proportions matter.
It matters how much we affect the world around us.
And I see that
ČEZ is obviously not trying
to decrese its impact.
Instead, they boast before their shareholders how they
increased the production and burning of coal in their power plants last year.
Me and others, we will continue with our
campaign of non-collaboration with the Czech government
until they show
serious efforts towards the mitigation of the climate emergency.