A Russian court is expected to rule in the case of 30 Greenpeace activists – among them one Swiss – apprehended after they tried to scale an offshore oil platform.
The Swiss foreign ministry has said that it is «closely monitoring the case» of the Swiss national, while Greenpeace Switzerland has called for his release, as well as that of the other detainees.
The Swiss man, named by Greenpeace Switzerland as Marco Weber, is reported to be among two members of the group who were detained in their attempt to scale the Russian Arctic platform on September 18.
The Russian Coast Guard seized Greenpeace’s ship the day after and towed it with all the 30 activists aboard, to the city of Murmansk. The activists from 19 countries are in custody and being investigated for piracy.
The court is expected to rule Thursday whether to dismiss the case and release the activists or keep them in jail pending the probe. Investigators said they are seeking the activists‘ arrest. If convicted of piracy they could face up to 15 years in jail.
On the scene
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Swiss foreign ministry said that a Swiss representative was on the scene in Murmansk.
«He is talking to the local authorities in order to try to establish contact with the person in question and with the representatives of the countries of other individuals who have been detained,» said the ministry.
The ministry has also asked the Russian foreign ministry and the Russian embassy in Switzerland for clarifications concerning this case.
For its part, Greenpeace Switzerland is calling for the release of all detainees, the coast guard to depart from Greenpeace’s ship and an end to the off-shore oil drilling in the Arctic.
In an interview with the Swiss public broadcaster’s 10 vor 10 news programme shown on Wednesday evening, Greenpeace Switzerland’s Yves Zenger said that Russia had big economic and strategic ambitions for the Artic, which explained the strength of their reaction.
The platform, which belongs to an oil subsidiary of state natural gas company Gazprom, is the first offshore rig in the Arctic. It was deployed to the vast Prirazlomnoye oil field in the Pechora Sea in 2011, but its launch has been delayed by technological challenges. Gazprom said earlier this month that it was to start pumping oil this year, but no precise date has been set.
Greenpeace has insisted that under international law Russia had no right to board its ship and has no grounds to charge its activists with piracy.
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday – at a forum on Artic affairs – that the activists weren’t pirates but defended the detention, saying the coast guard officers had no way of knowing who they were. Observers have viewed Putin’s comments as a conciliatory move.