Lawyers in Russia have this evening lodged formal appeals in the Murmansk Lenin district court against the continued detention of the Arctic 30 – all facing charges of piracy for a peaceful protest. Please write to your local Russian embassy and forward this urgent email to your friends, colleagues and family.
Caros amigos,
Shots fired so close they felt the splash in the water. Knives bared to slash their rubber boats. Russian special forces storming their ship from a helicopter. Five days incommunicado at sea under armed guard. And now, two months of detention in Russian jails. All for a peaceful protest to protect the Arctic.
If you have already sent a message, please share this page with your friends and family today.
28 Greenpeace International activists and two freelance photojournalists were detained by Russian authorities after attempting a peaceful protest at a Gazprom oil platform in the Russian Arctic to protect the fragile region from the disastrous consequences of reckless drilling.
Our brave activists and crew, along with two freelancers who accompanied them, have now been charged with piracy – an unfounded accusation that even Russian President Putin has dismissed.1
Almost a million people have now written letters to their Russian embassies, demanding the immediate release of our activists, and the call to #FreeTheArctic30 has spread like wildfire all over the world. From governments to NGOs and independent legal experts,2 there’s been a ringing global cry to free the Arctic 30 that the Russian authorities will find it hard to ignore.
Gazprom just signed a massive deal with Shell, and together they are leading the mad rush to drill in the melting Arctic for more of the stuff that is causing devastating climate change. Just last week, Arctic sea ice reached its lowest point all year — the sixth lowest in recorded history. Last Friday, the IPCC released a report stressing the urgent need for action on climate change.
This moment is critical. The time is now to raise our voices to protect the Arctic, to speak out for those who are being silenced by the authorities for protesting against the destruction of our planet, and to stand up against the collusion of governments and companies in crimes against our future.
Are you in? Send a message to your local Russian embassy now.
In solidarity,
Ben Ayliffe
Arctic Campaigner
Greenpeace
1On September 25, President Vladimir Putin said “It is absolutely evident that they are, of course, not pirates” in reference to the Greenpeace activists arrested by the Russian authorities http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/25/us-russia-greenpeace-idUSBRE98O09I20130925
2 What independent legal experts have said about the Russian authorities’ seizure of our ship: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/legal-experts-on-arctic-sunrise/