|
 Peter Willcox was released from a St. Petersburg prison on Friday
along with the others, bringing the total number of those freed to
18 of the 30 people on the ship who had been detained.
"I feel like I'm down out of the tree but still in the forest,"
Willcox told journalists. "But it's a big step."
All 30 still face hooliganism charges, which carry a sentence of up
to seven years. They were detained after some of the activists
aboard the Arctic Sunrise ship attempted to scale an offshore
drilling platform owned by the state-owned natural gas giant
Gazprom.
Crewmembers Marco Weber of Switzerland, Mannes Ubels and Faiza
Oulahsen of the Netherlands, Paul Ruzycki of Canada, Anthony Perrett
of the United Kingdom, and British freelance videographer Kieron
Bryan were also released Friday.
Judges this week granted bail, set at 2 million rubles ($61,500), to
26 people from the Greenpeace ship. The remaining three detainees
are expected to hear their rulings Friday.
[to top of second column] |
Greenpeace lawyers are filing an appeal for the release of
Australian Colin Russell, who was denied bail on Monday.
Photographer Denis Sinyakov, who was released on Thursday, said he
believed the decision to grant bail to the detainees came from the
top — and Russell, who was the first to face the court, was denied
bail simply because the judge hadn't gotten the signal in time.
It remained unclear whether the foreigners, who have no Russian
visas, would be allowed to leave the country.
[Associated
Press; IRINA TITOVA]
Vitnija Saldava
contributed to this report.
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
