A French court Thursday slapped two-month suspended prison sentences on 55 Greenpeace activists who launched an audacious break-in at France's oldest nuclear power plant to highlight weaknesses at atomic installations, reports Yahoo! News.
Only three of the 55 defendants turned up in court in the eastern French city of Colmar to face trial over the March 18 protest at the Fessenheim power plant near the border with Germany and Switzerland.
The activists -- who were all convicted of trespassing and causing wilful damage -- included 21 Germans, seven Italians and people from several other nationalities including France, Turkey, Austria, Hungary, Australia and Israel.
Colmar prosecutor Bernard Lebeau, who had sought three to four month suspended sentences, said although debate on nuclear energy was "perfectly legitimate", their actions were completely "illegal."
"It was my duty to do this and I did it," said Eddy Varin, a French 41-year-old civil servant who was among the protesters. "It was legitimate."
"To create public awareness, one sadly sometimes has to do media stunts to put pressure on elected representatives," said Jean-Michel Vourgere, a computer specialist from Paris.
Read more of this AFP report published by Yahoo! News.