Solidarity across borders and across movements! The goal of this monthly bulletin is to gather some of the many court cases, calls for solidarity and resources, or trainings across Europe. Help us spread the word and ask your friends to sign up here.

NB: We know this is only a small selection, if you have any news, solidarity call out or resource you want us to include in the next bulletin – don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] 

NEWS & COURT CASES

Italy

The heavily criticized “Security Law” has been pushed using an emergency decree by the Meloni government, transforming the draft bill into a decree that was swiftly approved by the Council of Ministers bypassing Parliament. Now the decree will have to be converted into law in 2 months’ time, but it is expected that in order to prevent further filibustering by the opposition and possible internal conflicts in the government coalition, it will be subject to a vote of confidence.  Read more here

Serbia

“Cycle to Strasbourg” Students blockading faculties at the University of Novi Sad began a daring and exhausting journey of over 1,000 kilometers to deliver documentation of human rights violations in Serbia to the European Court of Human Rights. Read the news article here. For more background, see reports from Amnesty, The Guardian and Civicus.

Scotland

Scottish court imposes first ever prison sentence for nonviolent climate action  taken in response to the unfolding climate crisis. A supporter of This is Rigged and Just Stop Oil was sentenced to 16 months in  prison, while three others were sentenced to electronically enforced curfews and community payback orders. .  Learn more on the This Is Rigged Instagram or their crowdfunding

Turkey

The Turkish government escalated crackdowns on peaceful protest with a protest ban and arrest of Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who is now the leader of the opposition. Protests continued throughout the week, with thousands now detained, including journalists. Bandwidth restrictions have been reported on X, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.

Hungary

The Hungarian parliament passed a law banning Pride events and allowing authorities to use facial recognition software to identify people attending events, an alarming expansion of surveillance. Despite this, the movements have said they want to go ahead with a Pride event in June, more information is expected to come soon.

Germany

In Germany, the repression of climate justice activists takes many forms. You can find an in-depth look at the situation in this interview (in German here): Translated Excerpt: “In Germany, professional bans are being imposed on student teachers, preventive custody is being implemented, and claims for damages in the millions are being made against climate activists. The criminal proceedings opened on March 24 against five members of Last Generation for forming a criminal organization represent the preliminary high point of this development.”

USA

US$660 million SLAPP: Ten years after the world watched the Indigenous-led protests at the Dakota Access Pipeline unfold, ET’s lawsuit attempts to rewrite the history of the Indigenous-led protest at Standing Rock and could have a chilling impact on free speech in the US and beyond.⁣ A Morton County jury of nine reached a verdict in Energy Transfer’s meritless lawsuit against Greenpeace entities in the US , and Greenpeace International, finding the entities liable for more than US$660 million. What’s the next step in this fight? Read this interview with Greenpeace International General Counsel Kristin Casper.

SOLIDARITY & CROWDFUNDING

Spain

A nationwide rent strike in Spain was launched on April 5th, El Sindicat de Llogateres i Llogaters and Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid have launched a solidarity campaign to raise funds for lawyers and potential court costs, as the strike will not go without a fight back from the landlords. Learn more on their instagram here

UK

More than two years ago, two activists sprayed  the treasury as part of a Just Stop Oil protest against new oil and gas, particularly the Jackdaw oil field which was later ruled unlawful. Now they risk  being sent to prison, which puts one of them at risk of deportation as an Italian national, leaving her husband and young children. To learn more and how you can support their court and living costs follow this link

RESOURCES & EVENTS

• • Global Climate Legal Defense is hosting a series of webinars to help educate the broader climate movement about the rising threat from SLAPPs, and how to prepare, prevent, and fight back. The first one is already on Thursday April 10th – learn more and register here

• • Article: Courts as spaces of resistance against the offset industry – Recent landmark victories in Kenya, Peru, and Colombia have exposed the flaws of carbon offsets and their human rights impacts, proving that litigation can be a powerful force for social change.

• • “This is Repression” Webinar recording – Netpol’s new report on the state of protest in 2024 was launched with a lunchtime webinar on 19 March 2025. The speakers were: Kevin Blowe (report author and Campaigns Coordinator for Netpol), Huda Ammori (co-founder of Palestine Action), Phil Ball (Reclaim the Power campaigner arrested near Drax power station in August 2024) and Nancy (Climate Action Support Pathway).

• • The 2025 State of Civil Society Report from CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance has launched including a chapter on Democracy: Regression And Resilience and how Civil society plays key roles in monitoring elections, countering disinformation, ensuring inclusive participation and mobilising against regression.

About Legally Green

Since autumn of 2022, the Movement Hub coordinates Legally Green – an informal network of lawyers who support activists across Europe and activist-led legal support groups. The network has over 100 members from over 60 organizations in more than 20 countries in Europe.
The network operates via mailing list and meets bi-monthly to share experience, discuss cases, trends, get help, learn from each other to increase our collective capacities to resist legal repressions. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions, or wish to join the network.