© HandoutThe statue of Edward Colston was retrieved from the harbour in Bristol
Four people have been charged with criminal damage in connection with the toppling of a statue of a 17th-century British slave trader, state prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The defendants, aged between 21 and 32, will appear before magistrates in Bristol, western England, on January 25, the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.
The bronze statue of Edward Colston, a former top official in the Royal African Company, was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest on June 7.
It was dragged through the city and dumped in the harbour. Bristol City Council later recovered it and said some £3,750 ($5,000, 4,200 euros) worth of damage had been caused.
No arrests were made at the time but the CPS, which handles prosecutions in England and Wales, said it "authorised the charges following a review of a file of evidence" from police.
The Royal African Company sent hundreds of thousands of men, women and children from West Africa into slavery in the Caribbean and the Americas.
Many were branded with the company's initials.
Colston was also a Tory member of parliament and philanthropist, donating huge sums to support schools, hospitals, almshouses and churches in Bristol.
The toppling of his statue came during calls for Britain to reassess the legacy of its colonial past, including prominent individuals involved in, or who profited from, the slave trade.
In September, Bristol's Colston Hall arts and entertainment venue announced it was changing its name to Bristol Beacon, saying it did not want to be associated with him.
In October, a majority of staff and pupils at Colston's Girls' School in the city voted for a change of name after a consultation.
In July, a sculpture depicting a black woman who helped pull down the Colston statue was installed on the empty plinth, before being removed by the city council.
Earlier this month, a figure of "Star Wars" character Darth Vader briefly topped the structure.
phz/am/pma