By Anne Losensky
The Tiergarten district court is hearing again against climate gluer Lina E. (20). Among other things, on August 25, 2022, she stuck herself to the valuable frame of a Cranach painting in the Berlin Picture Gallery. Now she has to pay a fine of 3,000 euros. She demands acquittal.
THE PROCESS. Klima-Lina in the dock. Among the audience are bosses from the “Last Generation”: Carla Hinrichs (26, speaker) and Henning Jeschke (23, co-founder). Both have relevant criminal records (not yet legally binding) and have experience with raids (suspicion of forming a criminal organization).
THE ARGUMENTS. Lina E. estimates that there are “three dozen criminal proceedings” against her nationwide. Right at the beginning of the trial, she makes it clear: “I can’t rule out having to do that again. The government does not have the catastrophe under control. If there is no disturbance, people will suppress it, we are the alarm. People have to be helped out of repression.” She admits the adhesive blockages and the painting attack. Brings in the civil rights activist Martin Luther King and invokes a “state of emergency”.
Climate gluer Lina E. (r.) at the painting “Rest on the Flight into Egypt” by Lucas Cranach in the Berlin Picture Gallery Photo: Twitter/lastgeneration
THE DAMAGE. Lina E. transferred 2541.78 euros to the gallery the day before the trial. That’s how high the damage was “voluntarily estimated,” says the chief restorer. Cranach’s “Rest on the Flight into Egypt” has only been on display in the exhibition for four months.
Lina E. has 600 to 800 euros a month, “money from parents and donations,” she says. “Several people joined forces” for the transfer. Her lawyer asks pointedly whether there is also damage to works of art that “in retrospect would become part of the work of art?”
The restorer is dismayed: “I can’t imagine that in 50 years someone will say: Climate activists used to stick to these places. Such damage cannot be subsequently turned into a memorial!”
THE PUNISHMENT. The public prosecutor wants a fine of 3,000 euros for several road blockades and the attack in the picture gallery (200 daily rates of 15 euros each). The defense attorney wants an “expert opinion on civil disobedience” and an acquittal: “Art is relative. The frame was not damaged, just modified.”
Judgment on June 27th.