• Case against 28 activists for protest over illegal Almería beach hotel dismissed
• Supreme Court ruling against hotel cited as vindication of Greenpeace protest
A judge in Almeria has thrown out a court case against 28 Greenpeace España activists charged with causing damage to the illegally constructed Hotel Algarrobico at Carboneras beach in May 2014, when more than 100 activists occupied and painted Hotel Ilegal (“Illegal Hotel”) on the vacant building as part of a Greenpeace direct action protest.
Judge Juana María Gómez ruled on Monday that the activists’ intent was not to cause damage to the property but rather to symbolically protest the illegality of the construction on public beachfront property as a “serious affront to the environment and natural resources.”
In dismissing the case, the judge cited the ruling in February by Spain’s Supreme Court that the hotel is indeed illegal and must be demolished as the basis for rendering negligible the total amount of quantifiable damages caused by the Greenpeace activists. The ruling also anulled charges in cases over the same protest pending in courts in Madrid, Málaga, Granada, Pontevedra and Zaragoza.
► Read More in Spanish at Europa Press and ABC de Sevilla …
