Arrested Greenpeace activists brought to St. Petersburg

Russia November 12, 2013, 17:05

Greenpeace does not plan to hold any public actions in support of the detained activists of the organization

ST. PETERSBURG, November 12, 12:46 /ITAR-TASS/. The train from the city of Murmansk, Northern Russia, which brought the arrested activists of the international ecological organization Greenpeace, arrived at 12:11 Moscow time at the Ladozhsky railway station in St. Petersburg, Itar-Tass reported from the place of the event on Tuesday.

The security measures were toughened at the railway station over the delivery of the arrestees. The police have fenced off some part of the railway station platform, where the special wagon stopped. The arrested activists are not taken from the wagon yet.

Greenpeace does not plan to hold any public actions in support of the activists of the organization, who were detained on the Russian offshore oil drilling rig Prirazlomnaya, the organization intends to focus on legal aid to the arrestees, Greenpeace Russia spokeswoman Maria Favorskaya told Itar-Tass on Monday.

“We do not plan any action,” she said, adding that the team of lawyers, who had already arrived in St. Petersburg, will appeal against the measure of restraint and the accusations against the arrestees. According to Favorskaya, despite the accusations of hooliganism brought against the activists, the Greenpeace activists had not received the court ruling that the criminal case for piracy is terminated.

Meanwhile, the Federal Penitentiary Service department in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region told Itar-Tass that the issue of bringing the arrestees to different detention centres will be settled after their transfer to the city of St. Petersburg. “All conditions of keeping the arrestees in custody will be fulfilled according to Russian and international laws, including an interpreter will be provided to them if necessary,” the department said.

On September 18, the ship Arctic Sunrise sailed to the Russian offshore oil drilling rig Prirazlomnaya. The Greenpeace activists onboard the ship tried to board the drilling rig. The border guards from the Federal Security Service border department in Murmansk Region curbed their actions, after that the ship was towed to the port of Murmansk. The court ruled to arrest all detainees for two months and they were brought to the detention centres in Murmansk Region. In early October the court of second instance turned down an appeal of the Greenpeace lawyers to change the measure of restraint to the arrestees, which were left in custody until November 24.

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