The following is based on a communication sent by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN human rights experts to the Government of Germany on 1 October 2024. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. The Government replied on 21 November 2024.
Since the communication was sent, the Special Rapporteur has learnt of a fourth investigation against Letzte Generation activists for allegedly having formed a criminal organisation, with this currently ongoing in Bavaria. She expresses her concern at this new case, and underlines her continued fear as to the necessity and proportionality of the investigations into members of Letzte Generation on the basis of section 129 of the German Criminal Code. She notes the highly detrimental impact of lengthy criminal investigations and proceedings on human rights defenders and the environment for defending and promoting human rights more broadly.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the criminal proceedings and investigations against members of the climate action group Letzte Generation.
Letzte Generation is a climate activism group. It engages in non-violent, public civil disobedience with the aim of bringing about lasting change in the approach to the climate crisis by the German Federal Government. Ms. Mirjam Herrmann, Ms. Miriam Meyer, Mr. Henning Jeschke, Mr. Edmund Schulz, Mr. Lukas Popp and Mr. Jakob Beyer are members of Letzte Generation.
ALLEGATIONS
Since at least the autumn of 2022, members of the Letzte Generation have been under investigation in Germany under section 129 of the German Criminal Code for allegedly forming or participating in a criminal association. Investigations have been pursued in Bavaria, Flensburg and Neuruppin.
Based on the provisions of the Criminal Code, a criminal organisation is a structured group of more than two persons, established to last for a “longer period of time”, whose objectives or activities are directed at committing offences incurring a prison term of more than two years.
In the course of the investigation, the homes of members of the group have been raided by police in at least seven states. Bank accounts linked to the group have been frozen, and emails and phones of the group and some of its members have reportedly been surveilled, including GPS locations and a press hotline used by journalists to contact the group nationwide. The group’s website was also temporarily seized as part of the investigation. This occurred during a fundraising campaign run by the group. The seizure saw a notice posted by the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation on the website’s homepage labelling Letzte Generation a criminal organisation under section 129 of the criminal code and stating that any donation to the group would therefore constitute the crime of supporting criminal activity.
On 21 May 2024, the Neuruppin state prosecutor’s office issued a press release announcing charges of forming a criminal organisation, as defined in section 129(1) of the German Criminal Code, brought against Ms. Herrmann, Mr. Jeschke, Mr. Schulz, Mr. Popp and Mr. Beyer based on their activism as members of Letzte Generation. The five climate activists were also charged with disrupting public businesses, coercion, damage to property and other criminal offences. The acts cited by the state prosecutors as the basis for these charges included the blockade of a fuel depot and shutting off or attempting to shut off oil pipelines by turning valves designed to stop the operation of such pipelines in emergencies, in both instances to call for an end to the development of fossil fuel infrastructure; throwing food on the glass and frame of a painting in the Barbarini Museum, without damaging the painting, to draw attention to the climate crisis; entering the runway at Berlin-Brandenburg airport and disrupting air traffic for 90 minutes to call for the public to stop traveling by air and for the Government to end subsidies for air travel and expand subsidies for travel by train, in an action they informed the police of in advance; and entering the runway at Schönefeld airport and spraying a private jet with orange paint. For each of these actions, they wore high-visibility vests.
On 19 June 2024, the Flensburg prosecutor’s office issued a press release announcing charges brought against Ms. Meyer on the basis of her activism as a member of Letzte Generation. Ms. Meyer was accused of participating in a criminal organisation, under section 129 of the German Criminal Code, for allegedly organising and preparing crimes directed at Germany’s critical transport and supply infrastructure and attempting to recruit people to commit such offences. She was also accused of disrupting public business, damage to property, criminal damage to property and trespass. The acts cited by the prosecutors as the basis for these charges included shutting off and attempting to shut off oil pipelines by turning valves designed to stop the operation of such pipelines in emergencies, to call for an end to the development of fossil fuel infrastructure; entering the security area of Munich International Airport and blocking the northern runway for approximately 40 minutes, causing minor delays but no flight cancellations, in a protest calling for stronger climate action; entering the security area of the Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport, riding bikes to the terminal used by private and business planes, and spraying a private jet with paint to protest against the climate impact of high-wealth individuals, in an action which at no point posed a danger to air traffic, according to Berlin police; entering into the security area of Sylt Airport, spraying a private jet with paint, unfurling banners in protest against the climate impact of high-wealth individuals and recording a speech calling for stronger environmental regulation and laws in Germany, in action that did not affect air traffic; entering a golf course at a hotel and planting trees and flowers on the green to draw attention to the climate impact of high-wealth individuals and water scarcity; and tossing tennis balls soaked in white paint at the facade of the Bavarian State Parliament building as a method of drawing attention to storms in the state and call for action to prevent future extreme weather events.
As of the time of finalising this communication, the investigation in Bavaria remains at the investigation stage.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our concerns regarding the above-outlined allegations. In particular, we express our concern at the necessity and proportionality of the investigation into Letzte Generation on the basis of section 129 of the German Criminal Code, including the specific investigative measures taken. We note that section 129 is primarily used to target organised criminal groups seeking to enrich themselves through illegal acts, or who pose a threat to the public, and underline our fear that in this case it appears to be being misused to sanction acts of civil disobedience. A guilty verdict under section 129 can incur a punishment of up to five years’ imprisonment. Without wishing to express agreement or disagreement with the form of activism taken by Letzte Generation, we underline our strong concern that such a serious charge has been brought against members of the group, the acts of which are non-violent, carried out publicly, appear to pose no threat to the public, and are motivated solely by legitimate, well-founded concerns about climate change and its impact on human rights. We also note with serious concern that the accusation of forming a criminal organisation would not only criminalise the members of Letzte Generation, but any person deemed to be supporting them, exposing any such person to a sentence of up to three years’ imprisonment. We also express our concern about the failure to guarantee members of the climate action group Letzte Generation their right to peaceful assembly and free expression as well as to guarantee the group their right to access and managing resources, that is an intrinsic part of the right to freedom of association.
