Greenpeace’s vessel «Arctic Sunrise» has been released after nearly nine months of detention in Murmansk, following the organization’s demonstration against Arctic drilling in the Pechora Sea last fall.
The first five Greenpeace activists have been released on bail from jail in St. Petersburg. 26 of the 30 arrested activists have so far been granted bail.
Seven of the Greenpeace activists arrested in a protest against Russia’s oil activities in the Arctic, have been released on bail by a court in St. Petersburg.
The thirty Greenpeace activists and journalists that have been imprisoned in Murmansk since September were moved on Monday morning out of their detention facility in Murmansk and dispatched to St.Petersburg.
According to local observers in Murmansk, the case with the 28 Greenpeace activists and two journalists that have been in prison for seven weeks is turning into something of a tragic farce.
The 28 Greenpeace activists and two journalists that have been imprisoned in Murmansk for the last seven weeks will be sent to a pre-trail detention center in St.Petersburg.
After the charges were changed from piracy to hooliganism, the situation for the 30 activists imprisoned in Murmansk is more uncertain than ever, Greenpeace says.
Russia on Wednesday dropped piracy charges against the 30 people involved in a Greenpeace protest against oil drilling, replacing them with charges of hooliganism.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow says Russia will not attend when the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea starts hearings in the “Arctic Sunrise” case.
The lawsuit is lodged for the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea with a request to order the immediate release of the Greenpeace vessel confiscated in Murmansk.
The open letter calls on President Vladimir Putin to ensure that the piracy charges against the 28 Greenpeace activists and two freelancers are dropped.
