Two days before the trial of eleven members of the environmental organisation, Greenpeace on 21 September 2026 laid out a 26-metre-wide eye and two banners at the Hemisfèric in Valencia . Bearing the slogans “El mundo está observando” and “El activismo no es un crimen”, the organisation aims to draw attention to the forthcoming hearings. The trial is due to begin on 23 September 2026 before a Juzgado de lo Penal at the Ciudad de la Justicia de València .
According to consistent reports, the Fiscalía is seeking prison sentences of up to five years in the case. It concerns a protest action in October 2021 in the port of Sagunto against a liquefied natural gas vessel. The defendants are accused, among other things, of “desórdenes públicos”—roughly, public disorder. The precise legal classification of the charges is for the court to determine and may be clarified during the proceedings.
Greenpeace says the defendants acted non-violently and describes the authorities’ response as excessive in its view. The organisation believes it could have a chilling effect on civil protest. Reports present the prosecution’s position by referring to criminal offences and the safety risks in the port area. No decision has been made on the case; the outcome remains open.
The symbolic action at the Hemisfèric, a building in the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, was intended to draw international attention to the case. The visual motif—an open eye covering 530 square metres—is part of a campaign in which Greenpeace highlights the legal risks facing climate and environmental protests. The organisation published photographs of the installation and referred to similar cases in Europe.
The “Sagunto” case is part of a wider debate in Spain about the limits of the rights to assemble and demonstrate. At its heart, the legal arguments pit the prosecution’s focus on safety and public-order offences in an area of critical infrastructure against the defence’s emphasis on freedom of assembly and civil disobedience. Observers expect the trial to last several days. Any statements about possible sentences remain hypothetical until a verdict is delivered.
The trial is also politically significant for Valencia: it touches on tensions between local economic interests in the port of Sagunto and climate-policy demands. In addition to the eleven defendants, the relevant safety protocols in ports are directly affected—the court’s interpretation of them could have wider implications.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).