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Russia releases Greenpeace detainees on bail | Russia releases Greenpeace detainees on bail |
(about 7 hours later) | |
Eleven out of 30 people arrested on a Greenpeace ship while protesting against Arctic oil drilling have left prison on bail in Russia. | |
There were joyful scenes as family and friends greeted detainees in the northern city of St Petersburg, where they had their court hearings. | |
A further 15 have had bail approved and are awaiting formal release. | |
Hearings for three others have still to be held, while one had his application for bail denied. | |
All 30 still face possible trial on charges of hooliganism over the protest at an Arctic offshore oil rig owned by the Russian company Gazprom. | |
There has been a rapid change in the Russian authorities' position, the BBC's Daniel Sandford reports from St Petersburg. | |
But for some reason - perhaps linked to next year's Winter Olympics in Russia - prosecutors suddenly stopped opposing bail, and the judges started setting the campaigners free, our correspondent says. | |
It is still unclear if they will now be allowed to leave Russia. | |
'Not guilty' | |
The Arctic Sunrise, with a crew hailing from 16 countries, was seized by the Russian authorities on 18 September. | |
Russian freelance photographer Denis Sinyakov hugged his wife after his release on Thursday while Yekaterina Zaspa, the doctor on the ship, embraced her husband. | |
"I am not guilty, and there is no crime in people organising peaceful protests," Sinyakov, 36, told reporters. | |
The other detainees freed are Greenpeace press secretary Andrei Allakhverdov from Russia, Brazilian activist Ana Paula Maciel; Camila Speziale from Argentina; Tomasz Dziemianczuk from Poland; Anne Mie Jensen from Denmark; Sini Saarela from Finland; Cristian D'Alessandro from Italy; Francesco Pisanu from France; and David Haussman from New Zealand. | |
Five Britons have been granted bail but are still in custody: Frank Hewetson, Iain Rogers, Alex Harris, Kieron Bryan and Anthony Perrett. | |
Bail has been approved for the ship's US captain, Peter Willcox, as well as Ukraine's Ruslan Yakushev; Turkey's Gizem Akhan; Canada's Alexandre Paul and Paul Ruzycki; the Netherlands' Faiza Oulahsen and Mannes Ubels; Switzerland's Marco Weber; Argentina's Miguel Orsi; and New Zealand's Jonathan Beauchamp. | |
One detainee, Australian radio operator Colin Russell, was ordered to remain in pre-trial detention until 24 February. Greenpeace is lodging an appeal. | One detainee, Australian radio operator Colin Russell, was ordered to remain in pre-trial detention until 24 February. Greenpeace is lodging an appeal. |
The other three people still waiting for their bail hearings are Phil Ball from the UK, Roman Dolgov from Russia and Dima Litvinov from Sweden. |