A man who spray-painted slogans on the statue of 
Winston Churchill in London's Parliament Square has been found not guilty of criminal damage. Caspar San Giorgi, 39, was acquitted at Southwark Crown Court on Monday afternoon following a trial, the BBC reported. San Giorgi, who is also known as Olax Outis, climbed on to the statue on 27 February.
He was accused of causing more than £7,000 of damage by using red spray paint to cover the statue with phrases including "Stop the Genocide" and "Free Palestine", along with words describing Churchill as a "Zionist war criminal", the BBC reported. The court had previously heard that he went to Parliament Square just before 4:00 GMT carrying cans of spray paint and a ladder to climb the plinth. He removed his coat to reveal a red boiler suit bearing the words "I support Palestine Action" on the back and "set about defacing the statue – spraying… the words Free Palestine and red triangles on the front, and Never Again Is Now on the rear", prosecutor Peter Ratliff said. A heritage warden for the Greater London Authority saw him painting the statue and alerted police. In the immediate aftermath, a Downing Street spokesperson called the defacing of the statue "completely abhorrent" and said "Churchill was a great Briton."
During the trial, San Giorgi told the jury he did not believe he had done anything criminal because he was sending a message to Parliament, and he disputed that the washable paint had actually damaged the statue, the BBC reported. He had told jurors: "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."
Figures referenced: Winston Churchill. — JudgeMarket.
