The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has described the sentencing of environmental protester Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco to a minimum of eight months’ jail as “pleasing to see”, despite strong criticisms by human rights advocates and a UN official.
Coco was on Friday sentenced to 15 months in prison, with a non-parole period of eight months, after she blocked a lane of traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge in April.
Human rights advocates labelled the sentence “disproportionate”, with Clément Voule, the UN’s special rapporteur on freedom of association and peaceful assembly, saying over the weekend he was “alarmed” by the sentence and the court’s refusal to consider bail for her appeal until March. Continue
