A GROUP of activists assembled outside of Carlisle Crown Court yesterday, aiming to remind jurors of their right to vote with their conscience.
The small group joined others across the country, including at Preston Crown Court, who are part of the organisation Defend Our Juries.
It comes after court cases involving climate change activists resulted in jury-decided acquittals, despite the cases made that criminal actions occurred.
For example, Gwen Harrison, a 44-year-old environmental activist from Kendal, was acquitted by a jury recently after explaining her motivation.
She said: “Despite [the judge] trying to stop me from explaining my reasons for taking action, I managed to get my main points across and was acquitted by a jury who recognised I was acting according to my conscience, which shows how important it is to be able to tell the truth to a jury.
“After all, scientists everywhere are warning us in increasingly desperate terms that there can be no new oil or gas if we want our young people to have a future.
“We must be allowed to explain why we are protesting.
“Protest and our jury system are crucial to democracy in the UK.”
A Defend Our Juries spokesperson said that after two further trials involving climate activists were acquitted by juries, one judge clamped down further, "refusing to let defendants explain their motives which resulted in them being found guilty or getting a hung jury."
73-year-old Catherine Nash, who took place in the vigil at Preston, said: “We all ought to be worried by judges trying to block the truth being told.
“Juries must be allowed to hear the whole truth so they can arrive at a verdict based upon those truths.
“Our rights to trial by jury and to tell the truth to that jury have been enshrined in law for hundreds of years and we have never needed them more to protect us.”
A spokesperson from the Carlisle chapter said: “The signs all say the same thing, which is speaking about the juror's right to decide a case according to their conscience.
“This is a cornerstone of English law. These exact words are on the wall of the Old Bailey, and it's about the power of jurors.
“If they think a law is wrong, mistaken, out of date, they have final say.
“That is what trial by jury is all about. The common man deciding according to his conscience.
“What we've seen recently, especially in the number of trials relating to the climate breakdown and activism around that, is judges acting in quite a draconian manner, directing juries to come to a particular result or saying what juries can and can't [hear], what information they can and can't be given, and telling defendants, for example, they can't mention their motivations.
“So this is a reminder of how the law works, of the importance of that concept.”
The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary was approached for a comment.
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