Brits To Face Russia Court Over Oil Rig Protest

By Katie Stallard, Russia Correspondent

Six British citizens are among 30 Greenpeace activists expected to appear in court in Russia later facing allegations of piracy.

Six Greenpeace activists and a photographer have already been remanded in custody for two months after being formally arrested.

They will be held in a pre-trial detention centre while investigations continue.

Simultaneous hearings were held in multiple rooms of Murmansk's tiny district courthouse in the Arctic port city in an attempt to process all 30 cases.

The activists were led into the dock in handcuffs in the same clothes they were wearing when they were taken from their ship.

Activist Paul Ruzycki inside a defendants' box

Several made statements pleading that they had children and asking to stay in the city until and during any trial, but bail was repeatedly refused.

Their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, was boarded on September 19 by an armed task force of Russia's FSB border control.

Masked men rappelled onto the vessel from a helicopter, reportedly corralling the activists into the mess hall at gunpoint.

When the captain refused to steer the ship, it was taken under tow by a Russian coastguard ship to the port of Murmansk, home of Russia's northern fleet.

Four activists had attempted to scale the Russian oil rig, Prirazlomnoye, in the Barents Sea 24 hours earlier using climbing ropes thrown from high-speed inflatables, but were forced to abandon their ascent after security forces fired a series of warning shots and brandished knives.

Photographs have emerged showing a man in a balaclavas pointing a gun at an unarmed activist with his hands up, another shows an officer clearly holding a knife.

Video footage released by Russia's Investigative Committee shows gunshots being fired into the water close to the protesters' craft, and the climbers' safety ropes being pulled despite audible shouts from those above that they are coming down.

Russian coastguard point weapons at the activists

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the activists were clearly not pirates, but defended their detention, stating that they had violated international law and endangered people's lives.

Greenpeace insists the protest was entirely peaceful, and that the only danger is from Russia's plans for arctic oil exploration.

They maintain their ship was in international waters at the time and there were no legal grounds to board it.

Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo said: "The Russian authorities are trying to scare people who stand up to the oil industry in the Arctic, but this blatant intimidation will not succeed.

"We are resolute in our commitment to protecting the Arctic environment and the world's climate.

"We call on people in Russia and around the world to stand with our activists and defend their right to peaceful protest."

The Arctic Sunrise sails under the Dutch flag

Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven added: "We are deeply concerned by the decision of the judge to refuse bail ... Greenpeace and its supporters in the UK will work together to support the activists and their families at this time."

A spokesperson for the British Embassy in Moscow told Sky News that consular staff were in Murmansk providing assistance.

The 30 detained activists are from 18 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Russia, the US and the UK.

The Arctic Sunrise sails under the Dutch flag.

Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans has reportedly spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov about the incident on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York and The Netherlands has called for Russia to release the ship and its crew immediately.

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