Entire Greenpeace crew now charged with piracy
Russia angers environmental group with fresh court action
RUSSIA has now pressed piracy charges against all 30 people arrested after the environmental group Greenpeace staged a protest at an offshore oil platform in the Arctic.
The accused could be sentenced to 15 years in prison if convicted over the protest last month, in whic h a Green peaceship approached a platform belonging to state-controlled energy firm Gazprom and two activists tried to scale the rig.
Up to half of the activists were charged with piracy earlier this week but Russian investigators yesterday confirmed the entire crew of the protest ship now faced the same charge. Greenpeace says the protest was peaceful and has dismissed the piracy charges as absurd and unfounded.
Kumi Naidoo, the environmental campaign group’s international executive director, said: “Our activists have been charged with a crime that did not happen, they are accused of an imaginary offence.”
John Dalhuisen, of Amnesty International, added: “These absurd piracy charges make a mockery of Russian justice.”
The 30, who were onboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise during the protest, are being held in custody in the northern Russian city of Murmansk.
They include activists and crew members from 18 nations as well as a British videograper and a Russian photographer. The two Britons charged yesterday were named as Frank Hewetson from London and Iain Rogers from Exeter.
On Wednesday, those charged from the UK were Kieron Bryan, a freelance video producer from London; Anthony Perrett from Newport in Wales; Alexandra Harris, originally from Devon, and Philip Ball from Chipping Norton.
The crew was detained after a short skirmish in inflatable dinghies in which armed Russian FSB officers in balaclavas fired warning shots into the water.
At one point in the operation, which was filmed and photographed by Greenpeace, Russian personnel also abseiled from a helicopter on to the Arctic Sunrise which was later escorted into port at Murmansk.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which answers to President Vladimir Putin, said yesterday all the accused had denied guilt and refused to give substantive testimony. It said the investigation was continuing.
The arrested campaigners were held in metal detention cages when t hey appeared in c o ur t in Murmansk.
The committee, Russia’s equivalent of the FBI, said earlier this week peaceful aims would not justify what it has described as an “attack” that posed a threat to the rig and its personnel.
Within days of the arrests first being made, Mr Putin said he did not regard the activists’ actions as piracy, when he was asked about the episode at an international conference.
But, with yesterday’s charges, those comments appear to have been ignored by the prosecuting authorities.
The Prirazlomnaya platform in the Pechora Sea is Russia’s first offshore Arctic oil rig, giving it an important role in the energy-reliant nation’s effort to extract resources in the region. Gazprom says it is on track to begin oil production this year.
A number of international companies also plan to drill for oil in the Arctic in the coming months, a move which environmental campaigners claim will damage the area’s fragile ecosysytems.