Two climate activists accused of throwing a red powder on the U.S. Constitution display case at the National Archives earlier this year have been sentenced to more than a year in prison, The Washington Post reported .
Donald Zepeda, 35, of Maryland, and Jackson Green, 27, of Utah, were charged with felony destruction of government property after dumping the fine red powder over the display case, according in an indictment that was unsealed in District Count on Thursday per the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The act, which the DOJ said caused more than $50,000 in damage and closed the Archives Rotunda for four days, was aimed at drawing attention to climate change, as reported by The Post.
The rotunda houses the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
“The National Archives Rotunda is the sanctuary for our nation’s founding documents. They are here for all Americans to view and understand the principles of our nation. Attacking such national treasures is “not the same as vandalizing a public park or the wall of an office building — physically or symbolically,” Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan said in a statement to the court, as highlighted by The Post.