A Cambridge student has been released from prison on bail, following multiple demonstrations for Just Stop Oil (JSO).

Chiara Sarti, 24, a PhD student at the University, has been granted bail after spending weeks in prison. The student was imprisoned following a Just Stop Oil march in London, but was also arrested in October for spraying King’s College with the movement’s trademark orange paint.

Sarti was notified of her bail on Monday (04/12), but was released yesterday. She awaits trial, which is likely to be held in 2025, according to Just Stop Oil.

The student was initially denied bail when remanded to prison, being told by the judge: “You have said to me today you have a moral responsibility to break laws in this country. I think you will break bail if released today.”

Sarti told Varsity: “I was imprisoned for nearly three weeks for marching down a road twice for a few minutes.”

“If anyone tells you you still have a right to protest in this country, and that you can make your voice heard without breaking the law, they’re lying to you,” she continued.

“The Met and the CPS fail to realise I’d rather have bars on my window than blood on my hands. If you’re in a British prison for peaceful protest in 2023 you sleep much better than the ghouls that are selling our future at COP28,” she said.

Sarti criticised the climate summit in Dubai: “At COP28 there has not been a single journalist that raised their hand and asked Rishi Sunak, our unelected oligarch, how we could be climate leaders when we’re licensing over 100 fossil fuel projects, including the monstrosity of Rosebank.”

COP28 is ongoing, and some commentators have anticipated ambitious new commitments regarding fossil fuels.

The summit’s president, Sultan Al-Jaber, has been criticised, however, after he reportedly denied that the phasing out of fossil fuels is necessary to achieve the 1.5C global warming target.