A Dutch court of appeals has decided that a small group of climate activists who received two month in jail for gluing themselves to Johannes Vermeer‘s The Girl with the Pearl Earring no longer need to serve their sentence. According to CNN, the court said that the three activists, who are part of the protest group Just Stop Oil Belgium, spent 23 days in holding cells leading up to the trial. The court ruled that additional prison time “would have been excessive.” The court added that doling out a severe punishment might have a “chilling effect,” and that it wanted to ensure that those who want to peacefully protest or exercise their right to freedom of expression aren’t discouraged. Related Articles The attack on Vermeer’s most recognizable painting happened in October 2022, at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague. One man glued his bald head to the painting, which his covered by a protective glass, before a second man covered him in tomato soup. The second man then glued his own hand to the wall next to the painting.  A …