Saturday, 26 October 2013 - 00:01
Case Greenpeace on November 6
The International Maritime Tribunal will review the case of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise on Wednesday, November 6th, announced the President of the Tribunal, Shunji Yanai.The Dutch State requests the release of the 30 crew members of the Greenpeace ship.
The Arctic Sunrise was chained down by the Russians after Greenpeace activists tried to put a banner up on a drilling platform of the Russian oil company Gazprom in September.
Arctic sunrise,
Wikimedia commons,
Mz 28 activists and two journalists are detained since that time. Russia has already weakened the indictment from piracy to vandalism, but that still incurs a sentence of seven years. Netherlands presented the case to the tribunal, because the Arctic Sunrise sailed under Dutch flag. Russia does not recognize the authority of the tribunal in this case, because they feel the sovereignty of the country is at stake. They are, however, open to a settlement of the situation. Court President Yanai sees it as a major problem that the Russians are boycotting the sessions, but the procedure must commence.
Wikimedia commons,
Mz 28 activists and two journalists are detained since that time. Russia has already weakened the indictment from piracy to vandalism, but that still incurs a sentence of seven years. Netherlands presented the case to the tribunal, because the Arctic Sunrise sailed under Dutch flag. Russia does not recognize the authority of the tribunal in this case, because they feel the sovereignty of the country is at stake. They are, however, open to a settlement of the situation. Court President Yanai sees it as a major problem that the Russians are boycotting the sessions, but the procedure must commence.