Trial of Olympia Beijing Olympics Torch Protestors scheduled to take place on 1 December 2022
JUSTICE ABROAD
“Here When You Need Us”
Justice Abroad is representing activists from Students for a Free Tibet and Free Tibet who protested the Olympic flame lighting ceremony for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at Olympia in October 2021.
The trial in this matter, for the serious charge of ‘destroying a cultural object’ despite there being no evidence of any damage having been done to the Olympia site, is set to take place on 1 December 2022 at Pyrgos Courthouse.
Justice Abroad is working with top Greek lawyers Alexis Anagnostakis and Antonios Bahouros.
The similar trial of activists with Students for a Free Tibet, who carried out protests during a ceremony for the Beijing Olympic torch at the Acropolis, ended in the acquittal of three activists in Athens Courthouse on 17 November 2022.
The Olympia case relates to a protest on 17 October 2021 in which three activists, Canadian-Tibetan Politician Chemi Lhamo who is an activist for Students for a Free Tibet, Jason Leith a British National who work for the organisation Free Tibet, and Fern McDougall, an American PHD Student with a history of activism.
The three activists hid in the bushes at the Ancient Olympia site and ran down the hill holding a ‘No Genocide Games’ banner and a Tibetan flag when the flame was being lit. The activists were opposed to the holding of the Olympic Games in China whilst the ongoing repression of the Tibetan people continues, genocide and crimes against humanity are taking place against the Uyghurs, and the civil liberties of the people of Hong Kong are destroyed. Despite this being a non-violent protest on a matter of public interest, and no damage having been caused to the Olympia site, the Greek authorities decided to charge the three activists with the serious offence of destroying a cultural object.
The protest at the Acropolis and Ancient Olympia drew worldwide attention to the repression of the Uyghurs, Tibetans, and Hong Kongers. Chinese Police reportedly operated alongside Greek Police which caused concern that activists would rendered to China given that Greece still has an extradition agreement with China despite the lack of any proper and objective Court system and the plethora of evidence that the Chinese authorities target and persecute individuals and groups based upon their ethnicity and religion or belief in democracy.
Greece’s close relationship with the Chinese regime, which operates in direct defiance of ancient Greek ideals about democracy and free expression, has been criticised after the Greek Government sold the strategic Piraeus Port to a Chinese state company meaning that China now controls Greece’s premier port.
Justice Abroad’s Michael Polak stated the following:
‘We were very pleased to win the case in Athens recently where the Court there decided to acquit three activists who protested the Beijing Olympics at the Acropolis. The same legal principles should apply to the case in Pyrgos for the Olympia activists.
At a time when brave young Chinese students are protesting for their right to freedom expression and democracy despite this having serious consequences for them, the courts in Europe must send a message that peaceful protest will be protected even when that protest is against the repressive Beijing regime.
The fact that the Greek authorities have decided to prosecute the activists for a serious charge, when Greek protests of a similar type are carried out without censure, tends to suggest that they are acting to please those in power in China.
We hope that the Court in Pyrgos on 1 December 2022 treats the prosecution case with the same disdain as the Court of Athens did recently and if not we intend to take this case all the way up to the European Court of Human Rights to protect the right to peaceful protest.’
Chemi Lamo from Students for a Free Tibet stated:
‘Our protest in the birthplace of democracy, was to amplify the voices inside Tibet, where children as young as 4 years are forced into Colonial State-run Boarding schools. As the CCP continues their attempt to eradicate the Tibetan identity; their mission for global dominance is a threat to our values of freedom and justice everywhere. How can we stay silent and be complicit as our democracy erodes in the free world?’
A previous press release from Students for a Free Tibet can be found here –
Any request for comment from Michael Polak or for interviews with the activists can be made by emailing contact@justiceabroad.co.uk or by phone on +44 (0)203 488 2316
For comments from Students for Free Tibet and interviews in English or Tibetan please contact info@studentsforafreetibet.org
Notes to Editors and the Press
Students for a Free Tibet (SFT), https://studentsforafreetibet.org/, works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence.
SFT are a chapter-based network of young people and activists around the world. Through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action, they campaign for Tibetans’ fundamental right to political freedom.
Justice Abroad, www.justiceabroad.co.uk has been set up to help those trying to find their way through foreign justice systems with all the associated hurdles that presents, to represent those facing gross breaches of their human rights no matter where this takes place, and to advise and assist the victims of crimes as to how to achieve justice.
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