RT NewsEight people on board Greenpeace’s ship Arctic Sunrise will spend two months in pre-trial detention, accused of “piracy” in the boarding of a Russian oil rig platform, a Murmansk court ruled, the environmental group said on its Twitter account.
The group of defendants ordered to be detained includes two Russians and six foreigners – from Canada, US, Poland, New Zealand and France.
In addition, Greenpeace spokesperson Dima Litvinov is to be held for three days ahead of a new hearing.
A handout picture taken late on September 26, 2013, and provided by Greenpeace International shows Greenpeace International contracted freelance photographer Denis Sinyakov sitting in a defendant cage in a court in the northern Russian city of Murmansk. (AFP Photo / Igor Podgorny)
Roman Dolgov, an activist and spokesman for Greenpeace Russia, strongly rejected the charges leveled at him and the group.
“I believe the charge is unlawful and absolutely unfair. There was certainly no piracy involved,” Dolgov told prosecutors, adding that he is a marine pollution expert and had nothing to do with trying to take over the oil rig.
Among the people detained is the Arctic Sunrise captain Pete Willcox, and Russian photographer Denis Sinyakov, who was contracted to document the environmental organization’s activism.
“The criminal activity I am blamed for is called journalism.I will keep doing it,” said the photographer.
The judge ruled that the defendants posed a flight risk.
A handout picture taken late on September 26, 2013, and provided by Greenpeace International shows Greenpeace International expert Roman Dolgov standing in a defendant cage in a court in the northern Russian city of Murmansk. (AFP Photo / Igor Podgorny)
In the courthouse Wednesday were all 30 of the people on board the Arctic Sunrise – nationals of 19 countries, including four Russians. A decision on their fate is expected today.
Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said the Arctic Sunrise crewmembers may have their pre-trial detention commuted to a period of restricted liberty, to be decided by the court.
“It is important to note that, after sentencing, and having established the levels of responsibility and involvement of each of the attackers, it is possible that the court will rule on changing the period of pre-trial detention to a milder one that may not involve incarceration,” Markin said.
Greenpeace has strongly condemned the judge’s ruling.
“The Russian government feels it can bully environmental activists without any fear of consequence,” Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace’s Executive Director posted on his Twitter feed.
“We call on people in Russia and around the world to stand with our activists and defend their right to peaceful protest.”
I say, they are jailing our activists because they fear what peaceful activism can accomplish. @gp_sunrise @Greenpeace
— Kumi Naidoo (@kuminaidoo) September 26, 2013
The Greenpeace ship approached the oil rig on Sept. 18, despite orders from the Russian Border Guard Service not to do so. Two Greenpeace activists scaled the rig and were preparing to stay there for several days.
The next day Border Guard troops boarded both the rig and the activists’ ship, Arctic Sunrise, detaining all 30 people on board. They later towed the vessel to the Russian port of Murmansk.
A handout photo taken by Greenpeace on September 18, 2013, shows Greenpeace activists boarding Gazprom’s ‘Prirazlomnaya’ Arctic oil platform somewhere off Russia north-eastern coast in the Pechora Sea. (AFP Photo / Denis Sinyakov)
The Greenpeace activists are currently facing piracy charges, Russia’s Investigative Committee announced Tuesday. The environmental organization responded by calling the allegations absurd.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared that the defendants were “obviously not pirates,” but added that technically the charge was valid, as they were trying to forcefully board and take over the rig, which is a violation of international law.
A district court building in Murmansk, September 26, 2013. (RIA Novosti / Anastasia Yakonyuk)
Journalists are staging a demonstration in Moscow support of Sinyakov on Thursday afternoon, and on Friday two leading liberal Russian media outlets will use black screens instead of photos as a gesture of solidarity.