Relaxed at first instance, the two activists from the Riposte Alimentaire collective, who had sprayed the work in February 2024, were sentenced this Thursday to a fine for “light damage”.
Two activists from the environmentalist collective Riposte Alimentaire, who had doused a Monet painting with soup in February 2024 to warn of global warming, were convicted on appeal in Lyon for “slight degradation”. In the first instance, the two young women, prosecuted for having “voluntarily degraded the table of Claude Monet the Spring» at the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon, had been released, on the grounds that the canvas, under glass, had not suffered any damage. A decision which the prosecution appealed.
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300 euros fine
The court of appeal declared them guilty after reclassifying the facts as “less serious offense”and sentenced them to a fine of 300 euros, suspended for one of them, said defense lawyer Adeline Dubost. They were acquitted of the offense of refusing to submit to the collection of biological material. Tuesday’s decision “questions in relation to decisions of other jurisdictions on the use of freedom of expression and its limits”reacted Me Dubost, who argues about nature “policy” a gesture which therefore falls under freedom of expression.
Food response, which presents itself as a “French civil resistance campaign”campaigns for the establishment of a system similar to social security which would allow everyone to access sustainable food. The environmental movement had demanded similar action against the Mona Lisa a year ago.
