PhD thesis

Legal Climate Activism: A Case Study of The Swiss Criminal Proceedings in Response to collective actions

The certainty, urgency, and extent of the climate crisis combined with the insufficient response of governments led to a strong reaction from the civil society, both through litigation and collective actions. Since 2018, climate movements frequently organized mass protests, direct actions, and/or acts of civil disobedience in Europe, which consequently led to a rise in their prosecution^. However, the criminal proceedings that follow a protest action have been very much understudied. This is why my PhD thesis want to thoroughly examine the criminal prosecution of climate activists in Switzerland. I do so through a process-oriented approach, investigation the criminal justice chain from arrest to the end of the prosecution (conviction, abandonment, or acquittal). For this research, a database of the criminal proceedings of climate activists in Switzerland from 2018 to 2025 is built. This will help to determine how the criminal justice system approaches these cases and whether they are subject to specific treatment because defendants are involved in what is qualified as climate activism.

Supervisor : Prof. André Kuhn