Published on 8 July 2024
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 26424/23
Tessel HOFSTEDE against the Netherlands
and 3 other applications
(see list appended)
communicated on 21 June 2024
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The applications concern an area ban, imposed on the applicants through a criminal behaviour order (gedragsaanwijzing), in the context of ongoing criminal proceedings against them. The applicants are representatives of Extinction Rebellion (XR), an international activist movement organising all kinds of protests to persuade governments to act on climate change. They were suspected of having committed, several times, the criminal offence of deliberately inciting attendance of, and taking part in the blockade of a highway, thereby seriously disrupting public order. As a consequence of the measures imposed, the applicants were prevented from participating in the protest on the A12 highway organised by XR on 28 January 2023.
The applicants complain that the criminal behaviour orders violated their right to peaceful assembly and expression as protected under Articles 11 and 10 of the Convention.
QUESTION TO THE PARTIES
Has there been an interference with the applicants’ freedom of peaceful assembly, within the meaning of Article 11 § 1 of the Convention (see Schwabe and M.G. v. Germany, nos. 8080/08 and 8577/08, § 99-101, ECHR 2011 (extracts)? If so, was that interference prescribed by law, did it serve a legitimate aim, and was it necessary in a democratic society in terms of 11 § 2 of the Convention (see Kudrevičius and Others v. Lithuania, [GC], no. 37553/05, §§ 109-110 and 140-160)?
APPENDIX
No.
Application no.
Case name
Lodged on
Applicant
Year of Birth
Place of Residence
Nationality
Represented by
1.
26424/23
Hofstede
v. the Netherlands
26/06/2023
Tessel HOFSTEDE
1975
Olst
Dutch
Willem Hendrik JEBBINK
2.
26433/23
Sloot
v. the Netherlands
26/06/2023
Sieger Gerjan SLOOT
1977
Amsterdam
Dutch
Willem Hendrik JEBBINK
3.
26439/23
Hendriksen v. the Netherlands
26/06/2023
Paul Johan HENDRIKSEN
1967
Olst
Dutch
Willem Hendrik JEBBINK
4.
26783/23
De Graaf
v. the Netherlands
26/06/2023
Jelle DE GRAAF
1989
Amsterdam
Dutch
Willem Hendrik JEBBINK