The demonstration was organised by the Field Liberation Movement in 2011 at a site in Wetteren, East Flanders, used by Ghent University and Flanders’ Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) for testing GMO potatoes.

In court last week, the accused were given sentences of six to eight months, suspended in the case of six of those on trial. The group will also be liable for damages of around €25,000. The treatment of political activists as criminal conspirators is “a dangerous precedent”, according to Bart Staes, member of the European Parliament for Groen.