Russian investigators on Wednesday charged 14 Greenpeace campaigners with piracy over an open-sea protest against Arctic oil drilling, the environmental group said, calling the move “absurd.”
The charge against the activists — most of them foreign nationals from Britain, Argentina, Finland and other countries — dimmed hopes that 16 others detained over the protest could be indicted on a lesser charge. Piracy by an organised group carries a punishment of between 10 and 15 years. A spokeswoman for the Investigative Committee declined to provide details, saying only that the activists from the group’s Arctic Sunrise icebreaker, placed in pre-trial detention for two months, were being charged.
The rest of the activists are expected to be charged tomorrow. Greenpeace called the accusations “extreme and disproportionate.” “This is an outrage and represents nothing less than an assault on the very principle of peaceful protest,” Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said.
“Any claim that these activists are pirates is as absurd as it is abominable. It is utterly irrational, it is designed to intimidate and silence us, but we will not be cowed.” He said the charges represented the “most serious threat” to environmental activism since the group’s ship Rainbow Warrior was bombed by French special services in New Zealand in 1985.