LIVE from England! A verdict of guilty on all counts has been reached in one of the most emotionally charged animal rights trials in England’s history. Our reporter, Claudia Penna Rojas, is in Cambridgeshire, England and bringing us the details LIVE.
The decision of the 9 men and 3 women on the panel could mean up to 10 years in prison for these 5 young people and is an ominous sign for the dozen others facing similar trials in the coming weeks and months.
After 2 weeks of harrowing testimony and global attention, 5 of the 18 Animal Rising activists who carried out an open rescue at MBR Acres—removing 20 beagle puppies from the controversial breeding facility—have now free pending sentencing.
These are not ordinary defendants. They are individuals who filmed themselves carrying beagle puppies to safety, turned themselves in, and then stood trial facing up to ten years in prison. They testified before the jury that they were were haunted by the knowledge that some of these beagle puppies would be bled to death and killed in toxicology testing, which the defendants described as a “scam”with no medical or scientific benefit to the public.
Their supporters, and the activists themselves, have insisted from the beginning: this trial is not about theft. It is about conscience. It is about compassion. It is about the public’s right to know what happens behind the locked gates of animal testing labs and the breeding facility that supplies beagles for vivisection.
UnchainedTV’s Jane Velez-Mitchell leads an expert panel to unpack the verdict—what we know and what it all means for the future of civil disobedience, animal protection, and legal transparency in the UK and beyond. Ben Newman, Nathan McGovern, Hannah Hunt and their co-defendants have become symbols of a growing global resistance—activists who say they acted out of love, not lawlessness.
MBR Acres, the company at the center of this firestorm, maintains that it operates within the law, under government regulation. The company is invited to comment at any time.
What really happened inside that courtroom? And what precedent does this set for activists who dare to challenge the status quo?
Stay with UnchainedTV as we break down the next chapter of this extraordinary legal and ethical battle.
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