Thursday 26 September 2013

POST 102 UPDATE FROM POST 99 A (99 B)

Hello.  Fighting on behalf of Mother Earth.  Update from Greenpeace.

            Russian special forces confronting Greenpeace activists 

Hi Geoff,
It's incredibly busy here - and a little bit stressful - in the London office as everyone's working to free our friends and colleagues. Here's a quick update on our situation:
The Arctic Sunrise arrived in the Russian port of Murmansk yesterday, after being towed there by the Russian security services over the weekend. During the journey our 30 activists remained under armed guard. When they arrived they were granted consular access, with diplomats from some countries being allowed to board the ship to meet them and see the conditions they were being held in. Some of them were allowed to use consular staff phones to call family.
As far as we are aware, the activists are all in good health and their morale is high.
Last night they were taken from the ship to the ‘Investigative headquarters’ in Murmansk and some were questioned. They are currently being detained in Murmansk and do not all have access to lawyers.
The investigation is still on-going and no formal charges have been laid. Rumours in the media that our activists may get charged with piracy - and face up to 15 year sentences - were dispelled when Russian President Vladimir Putin said this morning that they were 'obviously not pirates'. Unfortunately, Putin also said that in his view we had ‘broken international law’, so serious charges may still follow.
Needless to say, the only criminals here are Gazprom, who along with Shell are risking the fragile Arctic environment and our shared global climate to make a quick buck.
We know that governments will go to extreme lengths to protect the fossil fuel industry. This morning we discovered this dramatic video released by the Russian authorities showing the special forces confronting Marco, Sini and others at Gazprom's oil rig. Please watch itand share as widely as you can on Facebook and Twitter.
'm working with everyone here around the clock to ensure the safe return of our peaceful activists.
Please keep doing all you can to pressure the Russian embassy by asking your friends and family to email the Ambassador:
Thanks for all the kind words and support,
Ian
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