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Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise Case

Greenpeace Case: 30 Arctic Sunrise crewmembers detained

Among the detainees are US citizens

Photo EPA/KATE DAVISON

Photo EPA/KATE DAVISON

MOSCOW, September 25 (Itar-Tass) - The detectives have detained 30 crewmembers from the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise on suspicion of piracy, spokesman of the Russian Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.

“Immediately after the detention according to the Russian Criminal Procedure Code three detainees, who are Russian citizens, were questioned. As for foreign citizens staying onboard the ship they were not questioned yet,” he said.

According to reports from Greenpeace press service, there are citizens of the US, Ukraine and the Netherlands among Arctic Sunrise crewmembers. The crew consists of 30 members, citizens of 19 different countries.

“All crewmembers are currently held in diverse temporary detention facilities in Murmansk,” the spokesperson said.

The whole Arctic Sunrise crew has been detained for 48 hours, as reported by the Investigative Committee official representative Vladimir Markin.

Investigators of the Russian Investigations Committee have begun legal proceedings against Greenpeace activists who attempted to board a Russian drilling platform in Arctic waters, September 24.

Incident with Arctic Sunrise

The incident took place on September 18, 2013, when a group of persons, activists of the Greenpeace environmental organization, onboard the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker flying the flag of the Netherlands, made an attempt to board the Prirazlomnaya drilling rig in the Pechora Sea the southeastern part of the Barents Sea. Russian coastal guards thwarted the attempt to board the platform and tugged the Arctic Sunrise to the port of Murmansk.

On Tuesday, September 24, investigators from the Russian Investigations Committee went onboard the ship as soon as it arrived at the Murmansk port.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace claimed that the investigators told their activists who are onboard the ship that they would be taken from the ship.

Earlier on Tuesday, a Russian Investigations Committee spokesman said that a criminal case on piracy charges had been opened over the incident.

Kremlin’s reaction

Kremlin Administration Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov said that Greenpeace activists acted too radically when they attempted to get onto a drilling rig.

“It is a well known organization, but I think they act too radically,” Ivanov told reporters in Stockholm while on a working visit.

The Kremlin official described the incident as ‘piracy in the Somali style’. “They used hooks as Somali pirates,” he noted.

Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise Case

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