Today several of the group were campaigning on Corn Street as part of the penultimate Make Sunday Special. Although we set out to gain signatures for the ongoing Save The Arctic campaign as well as the Frack Free UK cause, the campaign that dominated our efforts was to gain support to free the 30 Greenpeace activists who were arrested at gunpoint by the Russian authorities 10 days ago. At the time they were aboard the Arctic Sunrise in international waters as part of a peaceful protest against state-owned Gazprom's intentions to drill for oil in the Arctic. Earlier in the week twenty-two of the activists had attended individual court appearances only to be told that they were to be held in custody for two months whilst the Russian authorities investigate piracy charges against them. As we were campaigning we learnt the fate of the remaining eight activists who have also been given a two month wait pending charges. One of them was Anthony Perrett who is known to several members of our group
Anthony lives in Newport but has previously worked for Bristol Wood Reclamation Project, attended meetings locally and has been involved in setting up the Greenfields at Glastonbury. Only last May some of us met him down in Fowey, Cornwall working on the Arctic Sunrise as we campaigned onshore for reform of the Common Fishing Policy. Our thoughts and deeds are certainly with Anthony, the other activists and their families. It makes us even more determined to see them released in the very near future.
In Russian law, piracy carries a jail term between 10 and 15 years, however several eminent legal experts have commented on the circumstances and they felt that this charge would be unfounded. Read, 'What the experts say' here. Human rights campaigning group, Amnesty International has joined in the support for the activists. "There’s very little question that unarmed Greenpeace activists are not pirates,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director.
Over 650,000 people have sent emails to the Russian embassy in London. To show your support click here
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