The two climate activists who staged a protest action at a museum in The Hague against the painting ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’, one of them even gluing his head to the famous work by Johannes Vermeer, have been sentenced to two months in prison.
A judge of a court in The Hague has considered proven the intention of destruction against the painting, which was not damaged, and has described the protest action as «shocking». «It is possible that he tried to cause as little damage as possible, but by the way he acted he accepted the possibility that the painting could be damaged,» he said, as reported by broadcaster NOS.
The sentence was less than that previously demanded by the prosecution, which had asked for four months’ imprisonment, two of them suspended, against those responsible. The third of those involved did not appear in court because he did not agree with the speedy trial, but will be tried in the future.
The Dutch police arrested three activists for this action: one of them for hitting his head against the painting, the other for throwing a red liquid on the painting, protected by a glass, and the third for allegedly recording the protest action.
After the incident, the Mauritshuis museum deplored the «defenselessness» of art and condemned any attempt to damage the works, regardless of their objectives. In recent weeks, there has been a succession of protests in museums around the world, with incidents in Germany, the United Kingdom and France.
