Nobody here is saying this was a peaceful protest. Nobody here said they should not have gone to court. Nobody here said their actions weren't careless or potentially dangerous.
FACT: they got sentenced by a judge to 12 month in prison, albeit with a suspended sentence. They are convicted criminals.
Agreed, although it sends the signal that you’re unlikely to go to prison if you chain yourself to the nose gear of an A380 on 27L, having cut your way in to LHR. Not quite the message that the AVSEC community would like put about. Try that on a US airbase.
It’s a difficult one to get right, although for public order/nuisance offences making the punishment fit the crime often feels right. Sentence: mend the hole in the fence, two weeks sweeping FOD off the taxiways and a week on the lost luggage desk...