Russia reduces charges against Greenpeace activists over Arctic protest
[ hidden- Greenpeace International activist Dimitri Litvinov (C), one of the ''Arctic 30'' detained on piracy charges, attends his bail hearing at the Regional Court of Murmansk October 23, 2013. REUTERS/Igor Podgorny/Greenpeace/Handout via Reuters ]
By Steve Gutterman
MOSCOW | Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:39pm BST
(Reuters) - Russia .. http://uk.reuters.com/places/russia .. on Wednesday dropped piracy charges against 30 people involved in a Greenpeace protest against Arctic .. http://uk.reuters.com/places/arctic?lc=int_mb_1001 .. oil drilling, replacing them with lesser offences and cutting the maximum jail sentence they face to seven years from 15.
The charges against activists who protested at a Gazprom oil platform off Russia's northern coast last month have been changed from piracy to hooliganism, the federal Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Greenpeace said the new charges were still "wildly disproportionate" and promised to contest them.
All 30 people who were aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise during the September 18 protest, in which activists tried to scale the Prirazlomnaya platform, are being held in detention in the northern Murmansk region until at least late November.
The Investigative Committee said it had begun the procedure of pressing the new charges, which carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. The piracy charges were punishable by 10 to 15 years.
Greenpeace called the hooliganism charge "nothing less than an assault on the very principle of peaceful protest".
"This is still a wildly disproportionate charge that carries up to seven years in jail," Vladimir Chuprov of Greenpeace Russia .. http://uk.reuters.com/places/russia?lc=int_mb_1001 .. said in a statement.
"We will contest the trumped up charge of hooliganism as strongly as we contested the piracy allegations. They are both fantasy charges that bear no relation to reality," he said. "The (activists) are no more hooligans than they were pirates."
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the activists were clearly not pirates but that they violated international law.
MORE CHARGES POSSIBLE
The Investigative Committee dismissed Greenpeace's claim that the protest was peaceful, saying "anyone who illegally and premeditatedly seizes ... a stationary platform is committing a crime, no matter what their motive".
The committee said the investigation was continuing and reiterated an earlier statement that it could still bring additional severe charges against some of the activists, including the use of force against representatives of the state.
Courts in the Russian city of Murmansk have denied bail to the people of 18 different nationalities who were detained - 28 activists, including the crew of the Arctic Sunrise, and two freelance journalists who were documenting the protests.
Greenpeace has said the arrests and charges are meant to frighten off campaigners protesting against drilling in the Arctic, a region Putin describes as crucial to Russia's economic future and its security.
Moscow says the environmental protesters violated a security zone around Prirazlomnaya, which is Russia's first offshore oil platform in the Arctic and is scheduled to begin production by the end of the year after delays.
The United States believes "the purpose and nature of the actions taken by the defendants in attempting a peaceful protest should be fully taken into account as the Russian investigation proceeds," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.
"We are going to continue monitoring it closely," she said at a daily briefing. The captain of the Dutch-registered Arctic Sunrise and another activist are American, and Harf said U.S. diplomats had visited both of them since their detention.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russia .. http://uk.reuters.com/places/russia?lc=int_mb_1001 .. said it would not take part in a case filed with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in which the Dutch government is seeking the release of the activists pending trial.
(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Alison Williams and Tom Pfeiffer)
The Netherlands will ask an international court in Germany on Wednesday order the release of 30 people detained by Russia during a protest against Arctic oil drilling in September.
The 28 activists and two journalists who were on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise are accused by Moscow of piracy and hooliganism.
They include New Zealanders Jonathan Beauchamp and David Haussman.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, based in Hamburg, will consider an application from the Dutch Foreign Ministry, which argues that they should be released until their cases are brought before a court, the BBC reports.
Russia has granted bail to the American captain and four others arrested on a Greenpeace ship. Source: AAP
RUSSIAN courts have granted bail to the American captain and four others arrested on a Greenpeace ship over a protest against oil drilling in the Arctic.
They are among 30 people detained in the case.
Courts in St Petersburg had already agreed this week to free 12 people pending trial.
At the start of bail hearings on Monday, a judge refused bail to an Australian crew member, granting prosecutors' request to order him held until February.
But since that decision, judges have agreed to release all suspects whose bail hearings have come up, indicating a change in official strategy.
The Australian radio operator, Colin Russell, does not appear to have been singled out in particular.
His bail hearing simply came up first - and a Greenpeace lawyer says an appeal will soon be filed seeking to secure his release as well, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
Bail hearings for 12 others arrested over the protest are still pending.
In addition to the American skipper, Peter Willcox, courts on Wednesday agreed to release Faiza Oulahsen and Mannes Ubels of the Netherlands and Britain's Alexandra Harris and Kieron Bryan.
Bail for each defendant has been set at 2 million rubles ($A65,400).
The 30 people aboard the Greenpeace ship were detained in September and have been in custody ever since.
It is unclear when they will be released or whether the foreign activists will be allowed to leave the country.
They were initially charged with piracy, but investigators later said they would be tried on charges of hooliganism.
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