Climate activists have condemned an 18-month jail term for a non-violent protester who vandalized a display case at the National Gallery of Art as “grossly disproportionate” and a violation of the constitutional protected rights to free speech and peaceful protest.
Timothy Martin, along with fellow activist Joanna Smith, staged the climate protest at the Washington DC gallery in April 2023, smearing washable red and black paint on the protective glass covering Edgar Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen sculpture.
Video of the protest shows that they sat silently with their hands raised, and did not touch or damage the sculpture itself.
Martin, 55 and Smith, 54 were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit, felonies that each carry penalties of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Martin has been held without bond since being found guilty in April, and earlier this week was sentenced to 18 months by a federal judge in Washington.
“Tim Martin engaged in a classic example of civil disobedience to make a political point… the authorities basically threw the book at him. It’s hard to fathom how a peaceful protester can receive more prison time than many of the insurrectionists who tried to overturn an election,” said Trevor Stankiewicz, researcher at Climate Rights International.
“Punishing peaceful protest out of proportion has a chilling effect on free speech and basic rights… You can’t imprison your way out of the climate crisis,” Stankiewicz.
Smith pled guilty to a lesser charge and served a 60-day sentence.
She was also sentenced to 24 months of supervised release, as well as 150 hours of community service and fines totaling $4,062. Smith was barred from entering Washington, and from all museums and monuments for two years.
Martin did not accept a plea deal and was found guilty on both counts after a four-day trial.
Climate activists see the jail sentence as part of a broader judicial crackdown on climate and environmental activists in the US and across the world, as governments accused of failing to take action to curtail climate catastrophe increasingly target those protesting.
An investigation by the Guardian last year found fossil fuel lobbyists were involved in drafting US state laws to impose harsher penalties on nonviolent activists protesting against the expansion of fossil fuels.
Martin and Smith have said that the action was not intended to harm the artwork, rather to confront what they see as the US refusal to tackle the escalating climate crisis.
“When I was asked to do this action, it was a no-brainer. I come from an art background and the little dancer is so beautiful and she represents the children of the world that are under major threat because of the climate emergency. So, I could not resist the opportunity to turn her beautiful, vulnerable, symbolic self into a message [against] fossil fuels,” Martin said earlier this year.
“This verdict sends a strong message to the thousands of people who come to DC each year to demonstrate and be heard,” said Edward R Martin, a US attorney in Washington, in April. “Free speech is a constitutional right. But when you take illegal action, such as causing damage to an art exhibit at the National Gallery, you are crossing a line… we will not tolerate anyone defacing our city to get attention for their cause.”
Prosecutors had sought a five-year sentence for Timothy Martin.
In sentencing, Judge Amy Berman Jackson gave Martin credit for time served, and said he should be released in 12 months. He must also pay $4,250 in restitution, serve two years of supervised probation and complete 150 hours of community service – 20 hours of which must involve cleaning graffiti.
