"Greenpeace activists charged with piracy by Russian authorities" is an article published in the Guardian today on the recent arrest of Greenpeace activists and their trial in Murmansk.
"Greenpeace activists who were seized while protesting against Arctic oil drilling face up to 15 years in a Russian jail after being formally charged with piracy," the author writes.
"Altogether there are 30 activists from 18 different countries being held in jails in the Russian port of Murmansk. They were travelling aboard the Arctic Sunrise, a Greenpeace ship that last month mounted a protest against the Prirazlomnaya oil rig. The drilling platform, in the Pechora Sea, is operated by the Russian energy group Gazprom. As two activists tried to scale it, Russian border guards descended on to the boat from helicopters and escorted it back to Murmansk with those on board kept under armed guard," the article reads.
"Last week, all 30 were remanded in custody by a Murmansk court for a period of up to two months while investigators look into the charges. Prosecutors issued piracy charges for the activists one at a time throughout Wednesday , and Greenpeace expects the 16 remaining activists to be charged on Thursday," the articles reports.
"A charge of piracy is being laid against men and women whose only crime is to be possessed of a conscience. Any claim that these activists are pirates is as absurd as it is abominable," the article quotes the executive director of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naidoo.
"The piracy charges come after President Vladimir Putin said that it was "completely obvious" that the activists were not pirates. He did, however, accuse them of breaking the law and said that the Russian authorities had no way of knowing whether they were terrorists or not and were thus forced to act," the article reads.
