Pressemelding - 2 oktober, 2013
Den russiske statsadvokaten har i dag siktet fire av Greenpeace-aktivistene som demonstrerte mot oljeboring i Arktis for piratvirksomhet. En frilans-fotograf er også siktet for piratvirksomhet, noe som har en strafferamme på 15 års fengsel. Det er en ekstrem og uforholdsmessig streng siktelse. Det er ventet at andre av Greenpeace-aktivistene vil få siktelser de neste timene og dagene.
Noen av mannskapet og aktivistene på Arctic Sunrise
- Den eneste forbrytelsen til de aktivistene som nå er anklagd for piratvirksomhet er at de har en samvittighet. Det representerer et angrep på prinsippet om fredelige, ikke-voldelige demonstrasjoner, og enhver anklage om at disse aktivistene er pirater er like absurd som avskyelig. Anklagene er lagd for å kneble oss, men vi lar oss ikke skremme, sier Kumi Naidoo, leder for Greenpeace International.
- De modige aktivistene på Arctic Sunrise-skipet protesterte mot Gazproms oljeplattform fordi de følte at de hadde plikt til å fortelle verden hvordan dette oljeselskapet gambler med det sårbare Arktis. Når isen smelter her, påvirker det hele verden. Disse aktivistene tok et valg for framtiden, og nå håper vi flest mulig vil bli med oss å kreve at disse aktivistene frigis, sier Erlend Tellnes, arktisrådgiver i Greenpeace i Norge.
Hittil er det den brasilianske aktivisten Ana Paula Alminhana, svensk-amerikanske Dima Litvinov, finske Sini Saarela og russiske Roma Dolgov siktet, i tillegg til den britiske frilans-fotografen Kieron Bryan.
Forrige uke sa president Putin selv at aktivistene fra Greenpeace «åpenbart ikke er pirater».
Nesten en million mennesker verden over har de siste dagene skrevet til russiske ambassader og krevd at aktivistene frigis. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch og tidligere fredsprisvinner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel er blant de som krever at aktivistene frigis.
Kampanjen kan støttes her.
Kontakt:
Erlend Tellnes, arktisrådgiver i Greenpeace, tlf 99373407
Åshild Lappegård Lahn, kommunikasjonsansvarlig i Greenpeace, tlf 97710530
Notes:
Any charge of piracy against peaceful activists who tried to protect the Arctic environment has no merit in international law.
Under Article 227 of the Russian Criminal Code, piracy is defined as an “assault on a sea-going ship or a river boat with the aim of capturing other people's property, committed with the use of violence or with the threat of its use.” Under Article 101 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, piracy is defined as “any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft.” The peaceful protest meets neither of these definitions.
Piracy only applies when attempting to seize property with violence or threats of violence, not to a peaceful protest. Piracy can only be committed against a ship. The Prirazlomnaya is a fixed platform, as Gazprom itself acknowledges. At no point during the Greenpeace protest was there any attempt to capture the Prirazlomnaya platform. Two climbers tried to climb the side of the platform to bring media attention to oil drilling in the Arctic. Greenpeace was founded over 40 years ago on the Quaker principles of non-violence, bearing witness and peaceful protest. At no point during the protest against the Prirazlomnaya did Greenpeace International activists use or threaten to use violence in any form.
Characterising peaceful protesters as ‘the enemy of mankind’, as pirates have traditionally been considered, is inappropriate and undermines the efforts of the international community to combat genuine piracy by diluting the international consensus on the definition of this offence.
Legal experts agree with Greenpeace’s analysis. Dr. Douglas Guilfoyle, Reader in International Law at University College London and a well known expert on piracy, concluded that "the actions of Greenpeace are not remotely colourable as piracy." Prof. Eugene Kontorovich, Professor of International Law at Northwestern University in Chicago said that "the Greenpeace activities are most certainly not piracy for several reasons… Piracy requires 'acts of violence or detention.' Here the Greenpeace activist merely put a poster on the platform. This does not constitute violence."
President Putin was quoted in 2000 as saying that “to be honest, I've always admired people who devote their lives to environmental problems. I've watched with astonishment as a group of people on a little boat try to oppose a huge military or industrial ship. I must say this inspires only sympathy."