A UK court has found six Palestine Action activists not guilty of aggravated burglary following a monthslong trial in connection with a break-in to an Israeli-owned arms factory.
After days of deliberations, on Wednesday jurors acquitted Leona Kamio, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Fatema Rajwani ,21, Zoe Rogers, 22, Jordan Devlin, 31, and Charlotte Head, of charges of aggravated burglary.
All six defendants faced charges of aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder at an Elbit Systems’ plant near Bristol on 6 August 2024.
Corner is additionally charged with grievous bodily harm with intent, for striking a police officer with a sledgehammer.
Jurors did not convict defendants Head, Corner and Kamio of aggravated burgarly, and acquitted Devlin, Rogers and Rajwani of the same charge.
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The jury were hung on charges of criminal damage, despite five of the defendants admitting to destroying weapons and equipment belonging to Elbit Systems during the break-in.
Additionally, jurors did not return a verdict on the charge faced by Corner of grievous bodily harm with intent for striking a police officer with a sledgehammer.
Jurors had initially been directed to deliver a unanimous verdict, but on 28 January, after days of deliberations, Justice Johnson issued a directive to consider majority verdicts on the different counts.
During the trial, the prosecution alleged that the six defendants entered the factory with sledgehammers, intending, if needed, to injure and incapacitate security guards.
All six defendants denied the charges, disputing that the sledgehammers were “weapons of offence”, and were instead intended purely to damage property.
