MOSCOW, October 18 (RIA Novosti) – Prosecutors in Russia said Wednesday that they have dropped piracy charges against environmental activists and freelance journalists detained last month onboard a Greenpeace ship .
A spokesman for Investigative Committee chief Vladimir Markin told RIA Novosti that the group will instead be charged with hooliganism.
The decision appears to mark a climbdown from the firm line previously adopted by prosecutors, although the Greenpeace group could still potentially face several years in prison.
Russian authorities seized Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise icebreaker in mid-September after activists tried to scale an oil rig in the Arctic in protest against offshore drilling in the area.
All 30 people on board – comprising 28 Greenpeace activists and two freelance journalists – were detained and later charged with piracy, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
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