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| Amnesty by Russians Includes Greenpeace Case | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| MOSCOW — A sweeping amnesty that is underway in Russia was extended on Tuesday to a member of the crew of the Arctic Sunrise, the Greenpeace International ship seized on the open seas three months ago. | MOSCOW — A sweeping amnesty that is underway in Russia was extended on Tuesday to a member of the crew of the Arctic Sunrise, the Greenpeace International ship seized on the open seas three months ago. |
| If the amnesty covers the rest, as expected, it will draw to a close one of the more contentious chapters in Greenpeace’s history, in which Russian commandos boarded a ship, imprisoned the crew members and charged them, for a time, with piracy. | |
| The Russians later amended the charges against the 28 crew members, and two freelance journalists on board, to hooliganism, a lesser offense that qualified them for amnesty. Two members of the punk protest band Pussy Riot who were charged under the same law have gone free. A separate presidential pardon released Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, a long-imprisoned business executive who once was Russia’s wealthiest man. | The Russians later amended the charges against the 28 crew members, and two freelance journalists on board, to hooliganism, a lesser offense that qualified them for amnesty. Two members of the punk protest band Pussy Riot who were charged under the same law have gone free. A separate presidential pardon released Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, a long-imprisoned business executive who once was Russia’s wealthiest man. |
| Neither the members of Pussy Riot nor Mr. Khodorkovsky emerged from the penal colony system, once known as the gulag, showing signs of gratitude, or even contrition. | Neither the members of Pussy Riot nor Mr. Khodorkovsky emerged from the penal colony system, once known as the gulag, showing signs of gratitude, or even contrition. |
| One member of Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina, stepped out of the penitentiary to say she would have preferred to stay than to accept an amnesty from President Vladimir V. Putin. The amnesty, she said, had been intended only to bolster the image of Mr. Putin and Russia before the Winter Olympics in Sochi, which start in February. Guards ejected her from the prison, she said. | One member of Pussy Riot, Maria Alyokhina, stepped out of the penitentiary to say she would have preferred to stay than to accept an amnesty from President Vladimir V. Putin. The amnesty, she said, had been intended only to bolster the image of Mr. Putin and Russia before the Winter Olympics in Sochi, which start in February. Guards ejected her from the prison, she said. |
| The one Greenpeace activist granted amnesty so far, Anthony Perrett, a Welsh crew member, who had faced up to seven years in prison on the hooliganism charge, also struck a defiant note in a statement released through Greenpeace. | The one Greenpeace activist granted amnesty so far, Anthony Perrett, a Welsh crew member, who had faced up to seven years in prison on the hooliganism charge, also struck a defiant note in a statement released through Greenpeace. |
| Unlike the Russian dissident figures, however, he directed defiance not at the Russian authorities but rather at the big oil companies that, he said, had been the organization’s target all along. | |
| “It’s time to go home. It’s time to get back to Wales,” Mr. Perrett said. He described what he called an unjust imprisonment and said, “This is not over yet.” | |
| “The Arctic is melting before our eyes, and yet the oil companies are lining up to profit from its destruction,” he said. “This is why I took action, to expose them and mobilize people to demand Arctic protection. I am proud of what I did.” | |
| Greenpeace International sent the ship to the Pechora Sea to draw attention to the potential environmental threats caused by a rush to exploit natural resources in the Arctic. The activists wanted to hang banners on a drilling platform operated by Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled energy giant. Greenpeace said its action had never been directed at the Russian state. | Greenpeace International sent the ship to the Pechora Sea to draw attention to the potential environmental threats caused by a rush to exploit natural resources in the Arctic. The activists wanted to hang banners on a drilling platform operated by Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled energy giant. Greenpeace said its action had never been directed at the Russian state. |
| For Greenpeace, what ensued was the worst crisis since the 1985 sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in a New Zealand harbor. One crew member was killed in that attack. Peter Willcox, the captain of the Arctic Sunrise, was also the captain of the Rainbow Warrior. | For Greenpeace, what ensued was the worst crisis since the 1985 sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in a New Zealand harbor. One crew member was killed in that attack. Peter Willcox, the captain of the Arctic Sunrise, was also the captain of the Rainbow Warrior. |
| Had the Greenpeace activists, the members of Pussy Riot and Mr. Khodorkovsky not been released, there was little doubt that Western governments and rights groups would have used the Olympics as an opportunity to draw attention to the plight of such high-profile prisoners. | |
| The Greenpeace activists, though, were released on bail pending trial; for them, the amnesty would close their case before it went to court, and allow non-Russian crew members to leave the country. Greenpeace lawyers say they hope to have them out of Russia before Tuesday. |