Pro-Palestine activist who spray-painted 'Zionist war criminal' on statue of Sir Winston Churchill is found not guilty of criminal damage

A pro-Palestine activist who spray-painted slogans including 'Zionist war criminal' across a statue of Sir Winston Churchill has been found not guilty of criminal damage.Olax Outis, also known as Caspar San Giorgi, 39, had been accused of causing more than £7,000 of damage after covering the monument in Parliament Square, Westminster, with red spray paint.He climbed on to the statue shortly before 4am on February 27 carrying cans of paint and a ladder.The Dutch activist was wearing a red boiler suit emblazoned with the words 'I support Palestine Action' when he began spraying slogans across the monument.Among the messages were 'Zionist war criminal', 'Stop the Genocide', 'Free Palestine', 'Never Again Is Now' and 'Globalise the Intifada'.He also painted the Dutch phrase 'groetjes uit den haag', meaning 'Greetings from the Hague', on the statue. The Hague, in the Netherlands, is where the International Criminal Court prosecutes war crime cases.Mr San Giorgi had denied criminal damage, arguing during his trial that he did not believe he had committed a crime because he was using the statue to send a political message to Parliament.He also disputed that the washable paint had caused actual damage to the monument. Olax Outis, also known as Caspar San Giorgi, 39, had been accused of causing more than £7,000 of damage after covering the monument in Parliament Square, Westminster, with red spray paint He climbed on to the statue shortly before 4am on February 27 carrying cans of paint and a ladderThe activist was seen by a heritage warden for the Greater London Authority, who alerted police. The Metropolitan Police said officers arrived at the scene within two minutes.Prosecutor Peter Ratliff told the court that Mr San Giorgi had removed his coat to reveal the red boiler suit before he 'set about defacing the statue – spraying… the words Free Palestine and red triangles on the front, and Never Again Is Now on the rear'.During the trial, Mr San Giorgi said one of the messages was intended to be a warning to former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer and Parliament over Britain's position on Gaza and Palestine.'I'm proud to be a citizen of The Hague,' he told the jury.He added: '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.'My wish is to see him on trial in The Hague.'The activist said he was prepared to accept whatever punishment the jury decided upon.'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 and I have accounted for my actions.'I will accept your judgement.'Mr San Giorgi said he believed his actions could not amount to criminal damage because the paint could be washed from the statue.He also claimed he was 'preventing a crime' through his protest.The activist had previously claimed responsibility for the February incident in an online statement, saying he had travelled to Britain to 'deface a statue of one of history's most well-known war criminals, Winston Churchill'.He said he was part of Free the Filton 24 NL, a Netherlands-based affiliate of Free the Filton 24, a pro-Palestine group which formed after activists were remanded in prison following an alleged break-in at the Filton site near Bristol of defence company Elbit Systems, an Israel-based military technology company. The Dutch activist was wearing a red boiler suit emblazoned with the words 'I support Palestine Action' when he began spraying slogans across the monument Mr San Giorgi had denied criminal damage, arguing during his trial that he did not believe he had committed a crime because he was using the statue to send a political message to ParliamentIn his statement following the Churchill incident, Mr Outis said: 'I've defaced a monumental statue honouring a murder-horny bigoted w*****, to draw attention to the horrible human rights violations happening in a country that's run by colonisers who refuse to listen to their people, who waste taxpayers' money to repress the population, who, according to the United Nations, are in violation of the Genocide convention.'He added: 'He [Churchill] was the Keir Starmer of his time. Covering his statue in red paint is as close as one can get to doing the same to the politicians currently harming the people of the UK.'Mr Outis also claimed the Netherlands had been 'complicit in the Palestinian genocide for decades', describing the country as 'the largest investor in Israeli colonialism in the world'.The defacing of the Churchill statue was condemned by Downing Street immediately after the incident.A No10 spokesman said: 'It's obviously a disgrace. It's completely abhorrent. Churchill was a great Briton. This Government will always stand up for our values and the perpetrator must be held to account. We're glad the police have made an arrest.'Mr San Giorgi was found not guilty at Southwark Crown Court on Monday afternoon.