‘Lady Liberty’ Patricia Okoumou Will Not Go to Prison for July 4th Protest

By Anne Branigin, TheRoot.com

Patricia Okoumou and her attorney Rhiya Trivedi as she speaks to reporters outside Federal court, Thursday, July 5, 2018, in New York. Okoumou pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct for climbing the base of the Statue of Liberty on a busy Fourth of July to protest U.S. immigration policy…

A federal judge ruled Patricia Okoumou, known around the world as the “Statue of Liberty Climber,” will not spend any time in jail for her bold July 4 protest.

Okoumou climbed the Statue of Liberty last year to draw attention to inhumane U.S. immigration policies. At the time, the Department of Homeland Security’s practice of separating families at the border and detaining children in their own camps was drawing international condemnation.

An immigrant herself, Okoumou faced up to 18 months in prison for her demonstration on charges of trespassing, interference with agency functions, and disorderly conduct. She was found guilty on all three counts in December.

As A.M. New York reports, during a hearing on Tuesday morning, U.S. Magistrate Gabriel Gorenstein ordered the 46-year-old protester to serve 200 hours of community service. Okoumou was also placed on probation for five years, with a warning from Judge Gorenstein that she would be jailed if she breaks the law during any more protests. That last caveat could mean that Okoumou could still face prison time in the near future: as she has told multiple outlets, she has no plans on taking a break from her immigration activism.

While the Statue of Liberty protest was Okoumou’s most visible act to date, drawing millions of eyes worldwide to the U.S.’ self-made crisis at the Southern border, she hasn’t shied away from taking brave, decisive action in the intervening months…

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