Paul Gill, the British protester who splashed skyr on a roomful of participants at a conference on aluminum power plants on June 14th at Hotel Nordica, will be sentenced today.
Participants at the conference included representatives from Alcoa, Bechtel and state power company Landsvirkjun.
Gill’s defendant said his actions were due to his “calling” as an environmental activist. Paul Gill, together with Icelanders, Arna Ösp Magnúsardóttir og Ólafur Páll Sigurðsson, are charged with vandalizing property at the Icelandair hotel, Hótel Nordica. The hotel has filed a civil suit against the protesters charging them with destroying electronic equipment and demanding 2.25 million Icelandic króna in reparations.
When asked about the charges, Gill admitted to entering the hotel without permission and vandalizing property by splashing a green-colored variety of the yogurt-like milk product skyr on participants. He did not agree that the electronic equipment had been destroyed. He protested against “inadequate documentation” and travel-restrictions imposed by the Court which prevented him to see his family and child.
The defense attorney proclaimed that Mr. Gill had been following his calling in life as an environmentalist and a fair punishment would be a suspended 30 day sentence. The prosecutor countered that Gill’s political beliefs did not justify his crime.
