Court fines Greenpeace nuclear activists

A Swedish court on Thursday fined 29 Greenpeace activists who broke into a nuclear power plant earlier this month.

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The activists -- 13 Germans, eight Poles, four Danes, a Frenchman, a Finn, a Swede and a Briton -- were given fines ranging from €190 to 1,600 ($230-2,000) for trespassing, according to a copy of the judgment by the court in Uppsala obtained by AFP.

In a statement, Greenpeace welcomed the fact that activists were found guilty of the lesser charge of trespassing, and not aggravated trespassing as sought by the prosecutor.

A Polish activist was found guilty of violating arms laws by using tear gas, according to the court's decision.

On June 14th, around 50 activists entered the nuclear plant in Forsmark, 150 kilometres (95 miles) north of the capital Stockholm, to protest the reversal of a moratorium on nuclear power by the centre-right government.

Three days later, the Swedish parliament approved the decision, clearing the way for the replacement of 10 reactors that are coming to the end of their lifespan.

Operated by public group Vattenfall, the plant in Forsmark was the site of a 2006 incident when a reactor overheated.