ST. PETERSBURG, November 19 (RIA Novosti) – Environmental campaign group Greenpeace said Tuesday it has raised enough money to pay 6 million rubles ($184,000) bail for three of its activists detained by the Russian authorities after a protest at an oil rig in September.
A Russian court granted bail Monday to two Greenpeace crew members and a photographer, who were among 30 people detained on board the group’s icebreaker after they tried to stage a protest against oil drilling in the Arctic.
“Bail is ready, we can pay it any time,” a Greenpeace spokesman in Russia told RIA Novosti Tuesday, adding the group still needs the account details necessary to post the bond.
The 2 million rubles bail for each of the three Russian arrestees was raised by the environmental group’s head office in Amsterdam.
The arrest of the so-called Arctic 30 was widely criticized in Russia and abroad, with calls for the Russian authorities to release them pending the investigation.
The group of 28 Greenpeace activists and two reporters were initially charged with piracy for attempting to climb aboard the Arctic Sea oil platform, owned by an affiliate of state-run energy giant Gazprom – an offence punishable by up to 15 years in jail.
The charges were later downgraded to “hooliganism,” punishable by up to seven years jail.
Another Russian court refused Monday to release another of the 30 activists, Australian Greenpeace activist Colin Russell.
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