A Dutch activist who defaced Winston Churchill’s statue has been found not guilty of criminal damage.
Olax Outis, who also goes by the name of Caspar San Giorgio, was wearing a red boiler suit emblazoned with “I support Palestine Action” as he climbed the statue in the capital’s Parliament Square in February.
The activist was first seen spray-painting the statue by a Greater London Authority heritage warden on February 27 at around 4am.
Mr Outis was spotted carrying cans of spray paint, a ladder to climb the plinth and diluted acid, the court heard.
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He “set about defacing the statue” said Peter Ratliff, prosecuting, “spraying the words ‘Free Palestine’ and red triangles on the front, and ‘Never Again is Now’ on the rear”.
The 39-year-old was accused of causing more than £7,000 of damages by using paint to write under Churchill’s name “Zionist war criminal”, and covering the statue in red paint.
He denied that his actions amounted to criminal damages because he was sending a message to Parliament, and that the paint could be washed off.
He translated the Dutch that was painted on the statue as: “The Hague sends their regards”, whole defending himself at the trial, and that he intended it as a message to Sir Keir and Parliament about Britain’s actions towards Palestine.
While defending himself during the trial, he said: “If I had a larger canvas and more time, I would have written if Keir Starmer doesn’t come to The Hague, The Hague will come for him.”
He also told the jury: “Whether you convict me or not is not too much of a concern for me. Whether I get acquitted, deported, imprisoned for years, I can be proud of having spoken about injustice.”
The Dutchman said he believed his actions could not be criminal as he was “preventing a crime” with his protest.
Mr Outis was found not guilty at Southwark Crown Court yesterday afternoon, court officials said.
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The £7,000 cleaning costs included the hire of police barriers at £612 plus VAT and emergency graffiti clean and restoration at £6,504 plus VAT.
A No10 spokesman described the incident as “completely abhorrent” in the aftermath.
“Churchill was a great Briton,” the spokesman said.
“This Government will always stand up for our values and the perpetrator must be held to account.”
An account affiliated with the acquitted activist posted a clip on February 27 saying: “My name is Olax Outis… I’m part of a group called Free the Filton 24 NL, and I’ve come to the United Kingdom to deface a statue of one of history’s most well-known war criminals, Winston Churchill.”
The post also said “Churchill was a racist, a sexist, a bigot in every way”, “a murder-horny bigoted w****r” and “the Keir Starmer of his time”.
Following the incident, the London Assembly passed a motion to instruct the Metropolitan Police to dedicate resources to protecting the statue’s site, describing it as one of national importance.
It also urged London Mayor Lord Sadiq Khan to raise the Assembly’s security concerns directly with the Met Commissioner and request a formal response outlining how similar incidents will be prevented in the future.
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