ALL FILTON 24 defendants have been formally acquitted aggravated burglary, the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed.

The remaining Palestine Action activists who broke into a British site of Israel-based arms firm Elbit System were cleared yesterday of the most serious charge without having to appear in court.

Their acquittals come less than a week after the High Court found the government’s proscription of Palestine Action to be unlawful and two weeks after the first six Filton 24 defendants were acquitted of threatening unlawful violence and using sledgehammers during their action on the factory in Filton near Bristol.

At a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court today, the CPS said it could not provide any evidence to support the charges of the remaining 18 Filton 24 activists who were not included in the first trial.

Having passed the deadline to drop charges, they were handed not guilty verdicts instead for charges of aggravated burglary, which carries a maximum life in prison sentence.

They will still face charges including criminal damage and the public order offence of violent disorder.

As the most serious charge has been dropped, their defence team said, many of them are expected to apply for bail soon after the verdict.

A spokesperson for the Filton 24 Defence Committee called today’s decision a “significant victory.”

“[Aggravated burglary] was always used as a tool to repress the defendants and justify imprisoning them for up to two years before trial, which far exceeded the six month custody time limit,” they said.

“With the most serious charge against them dropped, and five of the Filton 24 having also been granted bail, it only follows that the rest should now be freed, especially given they would have already served any possible sentence for the remaining offences, without even being convicted.”

They added that this charge, which focused on the defendants alleged “intention of using the tools they carried as weapons against people” was “categorically untrue” as proven by the not guilty verdict in the first trial of the Filton 24.

They claimed the charge was used by ministers to “justify proscribing Palestine Action” and resulted in “prejudicing the defendants right to a fair trial.”

After the High Court decision to overturn the ban on Palestine Action, “it is clear that the state’s overreach has truly backfired.

“The message is now clear: the repression must end and so should the ongoing government involvement in the ongoing Gaza genocide.”