Dutch police outside the Mauritshuis museum after the protest targeting Girl with a Pearl Earring on 27 October. Photograph: Phil Nijhuis/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

Two Just Stop Oil campaigners from Belgium were each given a two-month jail term with one month suspended

Two Belgian climate activists who last week vandalized the Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer were given two months in jail, with one month suspended, by a Dutch court.

In a museum in The Hague, one protester taped his head to the glass protecting an artwork. The gallery personnel reported that the artwork was undamaged.

The demonstrators said that their conduct was meant to demonstrate how seeing artwork destroyed elicited feelings akin to witnessing the destruction of the earth.

However, the prosecution stated: "Defendants who felt their message took precedence over everything else have smeared an artwork hanging there for all of us to enjoy."

The judge said that she did not want her punishment to deter other individuals from protesting as the public prosecution requested a four-month sentence with two months suspended.

In a speedy trial, the two men were found guilty of destroying the artwork and using open violence against it. On Friday, a third activist who opposed expediting the trial will make an appearance in court.

They are all a part of Just Stop Oil Belgium, which is unrelated to Just Stop Oil in the United Kingdom.

After the decision, Just Stop Oil Belgium said, "Isn't it ironic that climate activists who peacefully oppose the widespread extinction of life on Earth are being condemned?"

Thanks to Reuters in Amsterdam at The Guardian whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.