Investigation
The local police zone of Bruges confirmed shortly after the facts that the climate activist was administratively arrested on site. In the meantime, the West Flemish public prosecutor’s office also decided to judicially arrest the suspect. This means that Mouton is deprived of his liberty for a maximum of 48 hours. Within that time, the public prosecutor’s office will have to decide what should happen next to the climate activist. It already opened an investigation. “The necessary investigations are currently being carried out to map out the precise circumstances of the incident. For example, camera images are being analyzed and witnesses are being interviewed,” the public prosecutor’s office said.
Not up to his test piece
Wouter Mouton has previously come into contact with the law several times due to his actions. In October 2022, he clung to ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Johannes Vermeer in the Mauritshuis in The Hague. The Dutch judge ultimately sentenced him to two months in prison, half of which was suspended. The climate activist received a suspension of sentence from the Bruges criminal court in November 2023. In July 2022, Mouton had glued himself to ‘Madonna with Canon Joris van der Paele’, a painting by Jan Van Eyck, in the Bruges Groeninge Museum. The Ghent Court of Appeal confirmed the ruling of the Bruges Criminal Court in June 2024
