Climate activist Deanna “Violet” Coco’s 15-month jail term imposed last December has been quashed.
On Wednesday, District Court Judge Mark Williams issued the 32-year old with a 12-month conditional release order after hearing she was initially jailed on false information provided by NSW police.
Judge Williams said police had added a “false fact” and a “false assertion” in their case against Coco that an ambulance had been obstructed from crossing the bridge to reach an emergency due to Coco’s protest.
Coco was sentenced to 15 months prison in December for blocking a lane of traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge with a hired truck in April 2022 — making her the first person to be imprisoned under the new anti-protest laws, which were passed by The Coalition with Labor’s backing in the same month.
The laws increased punishments for non-violent protesters with fines of up to $22,000 and two years in jail for people who engage in blocked roads, ports, or other major infrastructure such as train lines that “seriously disrupts or obstructs vehicles or pedestrians”.
NSW Council for Civil Liberties president, Josh Pallas, called the police’s actions against Coco “shocking”.
“In the lead up to the election on 25 March, pressure is building on premier Dominic Perrottet as the reality of how bad it is for protestors in NSW today sinks in,” Pallas said.
Outside the Downing Centre on Wednesday, Coco was met by a crowd of cheering supporters. The crowd circled the streets around Downing Centre in the morning, chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets!”
“We are in a climate emergency and we are in the final hours to change the trajectory of hell on earth,” Coco told reporters. “We must continued to raise the alarm on the climate and ecological emergency as loudly and as boldly as possible.”
“It is time for courage, in the face of billions of lives.”
“Obviously we need to protest our right to protest. Protest is such an important part of our democracy. Justice was served today.”
“I plan to keep continuing to raise the alarm on the climate and ecological emergency to avert billions of deaths,” Coco added, when asked what she plans to do next.
Coco also told reporters she is planning to seek compensation against the police for the 13 days she spent in prison. “That is the plan…to hold the police accountable for their lies,” she said.
“Prison is a very challenging place…it’s very clear that prisons are designed to repress the poor and people of colour.”
Currently, she is still convicted on two other charges – resisting police and using an unauthorised explosive.
Last December, Pallas said in a statement, “Peaceful protest should never result in gaol time”.
“This state’s ongoing repression of protestors through parliament passing harsher laws, police seeking draconian bail conditions and surveilling protestors and prosecutors seeking custodial sentences shows just how much contempt this government holds for protestors and the environment,” he said.
This week, NSW Greens MP and Spokesperson for Justice, Sue Higgins said Coco’s case has shed light on the cost of the new laws to democracy.
“The NSW Coalition, in lockstep with Labor, created a moral panic in response to climate activist protests and rushed anti-protest laws through the parliament,” Higgins said.
“The Greens will challenge the next parliament to review and repeal these anti-protest laws and to ensure that members of the community who engage in peaceful protest and nonviolent civil disobedience are not sentenced to prison terms.”
On Twitter, Federal Greens leader Adam Bandt described the latest news about Coco as “Good.”
“Climate protesters are fighting for their future – and with the inaction from governments across the world, we’re just going to see more,” he wrote. “These unjust laws, supported by Liberals and Labor, need to be repealed.”
Greens Senator Nick McKim also tweeted his reaction, saying, “So the NSW police literally invented an ambulance to get a climate activist a harsher sentence. This has perverted the course of justice. A full review and explanation is required. If it was done deliberately charges should be laid.”