Greenpeace Activists Charged with Piracy

[Boethius]

MOSCOW — Defying complaints from international human rights and environmental organizations, as well as the apparent wishes of President Vladimir V. Putin, Russian prosecutors brought piracy charges on Wednesday against 13 Greenpeace activists and a journalist who covered their protest.

The activists and the journalist were among 30 people aboard a Greenpeace International ship, the Arctic Sunrise, that was seized by helicopter-borne Russian border guards in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Novaya Zemlya, after several members of the crew attempted to board a Russian offshore oil platform using inflatable boats. The activists said their actions were meant to call attention to the environmental hazards of drilling in icy northern waters.

The lodging of such serious charges in the Greenpeace case illustrates how far apart the Russian government remains from Western governments and nongovernmental organizations on issues like freedom of speech and civil disobedience. Russian courts ignored a similar international outcry last year when they sentenced members of the group Pussy Riot to two years in prison for protesting in a church.

The piracy charges carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. It was not clear how many of the 28 members of the crew and the two journalists who were aboard the Arctic Sunrise would ultimately be charged; all of them have been detained for investigation. The court in Murmansk that is handling the matter adjourned on Wednesday with the cases of the ship’s American captain, Peter Willcox, and a number of others still pending. Lawyers for Greenpeace said the hearing could continue with more charges lodged on Thursday.

Kieron Bryan, a freelance videographer from Britain, was among those charged Wednesday; the case of the other journalist, a Russian freelance photographer, was still pending.

Though Greenpeace activists have run afoul of authorities in many countries over the years, the conservation group has said that the situation in Russia is its most serious since another Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior, sank off New Zealand in 1985. Mr. Willcox was captain of that ship as well.

“A charge of piracy is being laid against men and women whose only crime is to be possessed of a conscience,” Kumi Naidoo, the executive director of Greenpeace International, said in a statement. “This is an outrage, and represents nothing less than an assault on the very principle of peaceful protest. Any claim that these activists are pirates is as absurd as it is abominable.”

In Washington, the State Department said that two American citizens were aboard the Arctic Sunrise — Mr. Willcox, the captain, who had not yet been charged, and Dmitri Litvinov, who was among those charged on Wednesday. A department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, said that both had met with American consular officials from St. Petersburg, but she declined to comment on the criminal charges against them.

Russian prosecutors signaled their intention to file piracy charges soon after the Arctic Sunrise was seized. But Mr. Putin seemed to brush aside the idea in public remarks last week.

“I don’t know the details of what happened there, but obviously they are not pirates,” Mr. Putin said at an international conference on the Arctic. “However, formally, they tried to seize our platform.”

It was not clear why federal prosecutors did not follow Mr. Putin’s cue and went ahead with the charges.

The oil platform that the Greenpeace activists tried to scale belongs to Gazprom Neft, the oil subsidiary of the giant national gas company Gazprom. It is in the Pechora Sea, an arm of the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of European Russia bounded by the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The organization said it had no intention of taking control of the platform, only of protesting oil development in the Arctic, a fragile and changing environment made more accessible by global climate change, but still treacherous because of dense fogs, frequent gales and remaining sea ice.

The Russian authorities have insisted they will press ahead with an ambitious plan to drill for oil and natural gas in Arctic waters.

Amnesty International and the World Wildlife Fund have called on Russia to release the activists. In Europe, Greenpeace activists chained themselves to gasoline pumps in Germany and unveiled a banner at a soccer game in Switzerland to express solidarity with the activists detained in Russia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/world/europe/russia-accuses-5-greenpeace-activists-of-piracy.html?_r=0



ETA - Update:  The entire crew has now been charged with piracy.

[GQBlues]

...It was not clear why federal prosecutors did not follow Mr. Putin’s cue and went ahead with the charges....

LOL. Yeah right. They definitely ignored Putin. If you believe that, I have a box of freshly printed Sochi Winter Olympics tickets for every event next year I'm giving away for free. Ha-hah!

Anyway, a report released yesterday cited that the US oil one day output topped that of Russia. If this persists, considering the US, like Russia, being non-OPEC members, can technically change the oil pricing the world over. Having a direct impact on global politics and economies.

[Boethius]

I think they will be tried, then expelled from Russia. 

U.S. production has increased due to fracking, which has a lot of problems associated with it.

[ML]

For those who are unfamiliar with fracking.

[GQBlues]

I think they will be tried, then expelled from Russia. ...

I think they should be shot. They knew they were breaking Russia's sovereign law by illegally boarding their vessel within their territory.

They remind of those stupid US 'hikers' that wandered off to both North Korea and Iran borders and were captured. Then they all expected the US government to 'bail them out' with millions of US taxpayer dollars. Of all the wonderful places in the world, why would anyone hiked in regions known to be at odds with the US.

...U.S. production has increased due to fracking, which has a lot of problems associated with it.

That's what a lot of environmentalist say...it's become widely used as technology improves. It's the same sentiment widely used against 'electrical cars' before, amongst other things. It's supposed to have a lot of problems with it.

Here's the report.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/511155/20131003/shale-gas-fracking-russia-oil-output.htm



Here's some info about hydraulic fracking for those interested...

http://www.energyfromshale.org/hydraulic-fracturing/what-is-fracking?gclid=CMz8nsOX-7kCFeV0QgodLwkApA

[Muzh]

I think they should be shot. They knew they were breaking Russia's sovereign law by illegally boarding their vessel within their territory.

They remind of those stupid US 'hikers' that wandered off to both North Korea and Iran borders and were captured. Then they all expected the US government to 'bail them out' with millions of US taxpayer dollars. Of all the wonderful places in the world, why would anyone hiked in regions known to be at odds with the US.


That's what a lot of environmentalist say...it's become widely used as technology improves. It's the same sentiment widely used against 'electrical cars' before, amongst other things. It's supposed to have a lot of problems with it.

Here's the report.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/511155/20131003/shale-gas-fracking-russia-oil-output.htm



Here's some info about hydraulic fracking for those interested...

http://www.energyfromshale.org/hydraulic-fracturing/what-is-fracking?gclid=CMz8nsOX-7kCFeV0QgodLwkApA

You sure have more info on fracking than I have.

For whatever is worth there is a big (http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/75370.html) moratorium in NYS because they are trying to get more information to the scientific body to make a positive or negative declaration (AKA posdec or negdec) on the future of horizontal fracturing here.

Hmm, I'm one of the three scientists who would normally review this. It seems they are waiting for our retirement to show us the data. Meanwhile, I come here to pass the time. Another guy is slowly turning grey and the third keeps asking me what's the countdown for retirement.

Now, what is the relationship between Energyforshale.org and the API? Also, does it matter that academia, in it's majority, is united against horizontal fracturing while the energy industry is united for horizontal fracturing?

Between you and me, I've been telling the wife that we should consider moving from NYS in the near future and NOT because of the taxes.

[GQBlues]

I know where you're coming from Muzh, but to be perfectly honest with you, the environmental community ought to be far more concerned about the natural emission of methane gas into our athmosphere over something that's federally regulated (I say that loosely). From stagnant lakes and rivers, pastures, landfills, etc...there should be enough to keep these BZBEES busy. 

You think these folks are willing NOT to produce their personal garbage to help minimize the amount of methane gas? Doubt it.

Oh yeah...there's also the aqueduct systems and the Hoover damming - that literally and continually decimates much of the western continent in our side of the divide....

Then there's also that widely hunting permits for eager beavers anxious to shoot-up millions of tons of lead every year unto our environment.

ETC...you kind of get the idea... 

[Muzh]

You know for every yin there's a yang. 

[GQBlues]

As macabre as it may sound, I think the planet is way overdue for another WW. Population based, we are way beyond critical mass in the pressure were all extolling from our environment.


http://ecology2011tamara2011sp.wordpress.com/2011/05/


Someone, somewhere along the line, needs to redefine the word 'sustainability'.

[Muzh]

As macabre as it may sound, I think the planet is way overdue for another WW. Population based, we are way beyond critical mass in the pressure were all extolling from our environment.


http://ecology2011tamara2011sp.wordpress.com/2011/05/


Someone, somewhere along the line, needs to redefine the word 'sustainability'.

Funny you say that. My mom would say to us that wars was Mother Nature's way of balancing the check book.

[GQBlues]

I agree with your Mumski, Muzh. Wars along with viral/bacterial plagues...


I was watching the science channel last night and apparently there were 3 incidences of blood red rain that fell over the skies of India, Sri Lanka and Columbia. An Indian scientist, looking at the sample through a microscope, noted 'living' cell organisms that are 'multiplying' rapidly in concert with air temperature - the warmer it gets, the faster the multiplication.

http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/the-unexplained-files/the-unexplained-files-videos/blood-red-rain.htm


I didn't catch the conclusive ending as wifey finally came home from work and I had t listen to something much more important. Her office gossip and politics trumps important global apocalyptic reports any time.

[Muzh]

I agree with your Mumski, Muzh. Wars along with viral/bacterial plagues...


I was watching the science channel last night and apparently there were 3 incidences of blood red rain that fell over the skies of India, Sri Lanka and Columbia. An Indian scientist, looking at the sample through a microscope, noted 'living' cell organisms that are 'multiplying' rapidly in concert with air temperature - the warmer it gets, the faster the multiplication.

http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/the-unexplained-files/the-unexplained-files-videos/blood-red-rain.htm


I didn't catch the conclusive ending as wifey finally came home from work and I had t listen to something much more important. Her office gossip and politics trumps important global apocalyptic reports any time.

Are you aligning with the ancient alien theorists?

[GQBlues]

Aligning?!? Are you kidding me?


I have 2, count two, aliens hiding in my closet waiting for a ride home..

[Shadow]

Aligning?!? Are you kidding me?


I have 2, count two, aliens hiding in my closet waiting for a ride home..

I do not see any reason for alient to hide around the area where you live.
Their ride is scheduled for next month.

As far as the Dutch hippies of Greanpeace, most likely they will be allowed to serve their punishment in one of our state hotels. Though I am unsure they speak the mandatory Arabic.

[GQBlues]

I do not see any reason for alient to hide around the area where you live.
Their ride is scheduled for next month.

Actually, no! Effective today they get to have equal rights upon our roadways and highways. 

[Anotherkiwi]

Though Greenpeace activists have run afoul of authorities in many countries over the years, the conservation group has said that the situation in Russia is its most serious since another Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior, sank off New Zealand in 1985. Mr. Willcox was captain of that ship as well.

Somebody needs to do some actual research.  The Rainbow Warrior was limpet-mined in the middle of the night by a unit of the DGSE (French Secret Service), while tied up at Marsden Wharf in Auckland Harbour.  A Portuguese photographer, Fernando Pereira, was killed.  Two of the agents responsible, Alain Mafart and Domnique Prieur, were apprehended before they could leave the country.  Convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years, they served only a few months in prison here before being released to French authorities to serve the remainder of their sentences on Hao Atoll in French Polynesia.
 
The French Government's actions in secretly repatriating them to France, where they were welcomed as heroes, nearly lead to diplomatic relations being broken off.  Despite the close relationship between the two countries, this incident is still remembered vividly by those of us who were around at the time, especially the ones who heard the bomb explode.  The Rainbow Warrior was eventually refloated and towed to Matauri Bay in Northland, where it was sunk to become an artificial reef.  It's now one of the most popular locations in the country for serious open-water divers.
 
For more information, the Wikipedia page is quite useful, if not 100% accurate - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Rainbow_Warrior

[Boethius]

Send an email to the NYT reporter.  They are known to revise inaccuracies.

[mendeleyev]

Ah, Greenpeas.

I love those idiots. The last good idea they tried to force on Russia was a large green space set aside as a refuge for dogs. Hundreds of these brain dead morons protested in the late 90s and early 2000s for Moscow to create a space where homeless dogs could live. They wanted it in the middle of the population centre, unfenced of course so that the dogs could freely come and go, the city would be responsible for maintaining their health and providing food, and somehow the dogs would just instinctively know where to go for this refuge, and they would want to stay within the boundaries of this large unfenced territory.

This came at a time when there were serious poverty issues for people during the transition, one of the reasons for the large population of homeless dogs.

Someone earlier in the thread suggested that these pirates should be shot. Such would be a waste of valuable bullets! Instead, ship them off to Somalia and drop them "freestyle" (sans parachutes) where they could be plucked out of the water by fellow pirates whom I'm sure would welcome the extra help.

As the authorities are unlikely to heed my advice, I imagine that Mr. Putin & Company (and GQ is correct about whether the prosecutors have permission) will entertain them in some of Murmansk's finest lodging establishments for wayward souls where they can enjoy unparalleled northern Russian hospitality, experience cold meals and metal bunks in the dead of Russian winter, and all the while perhaps learning a few Russian slang expressions and while cultivating the art of singing Cossack folk songs.

My guess that they'd be treated to some new tattoos while in the clutches of friendly northern Russian hospitality, then some sort of deal will be cut.

 

[Anotherkiwi]

Send an email to the NYT reporter.  They are known to revise inaccuracies.

Done.  Now to wait for a response.

[Anotherkiwi]

Done.  Now to wait for a response.

Response from Andrew Kramer took only a few hours, which was nice.  However, we seem to be slightly at cross-purposes as the conversation develops, so whether or not readers of the New York Times will be more enlightened as a result of my email remains to be seen. 

[Faux Pas]

Aligning?!? Are you kidding me?


I have 2, count two, aliens hiding in my closet waiting for a ride home..

And the sunsabitches never chip in for gas 

[mendeleyev]

so whether or not readers of the New York Times will be more enlightened as a result of my email remains to be seen.

It is the NYT. Don't hold your breath on a correction or you may choke to death.

I've been at cross hairs with them on Russian stories several times and any amount of documentation, links, photos, etc, has been consistently met with the attitude of "we're the NYT."

After one silly story a few years back I quit trying. They assigned a story on the opening of Starbucks in Russia to a young kid with an Hispanic surname who as it turns out has never traveled beyond the USA which I thought funny that he had made the story sound as if he'd stood there in Moscow watching the grand opening. He did a whole spread on coffee consumption, had photos from Starbucks press office, and made it sound like Russians had never encountered coffee before but were waiting in droves for Starbucks to step off the plane.

I offered to help him create a realistic story and encouraged him to either correct or expand on the story. Beyond our initial conversation he decided to ignore any further attempts to communicate. Oddly, at that time the NYT had two essentially full time writers in Moscow but I believe that the editors were more interested in providing Starbucks with a promotional piece that looked like a real story so they bypassed their own people on the ground.

[Shadow]

Seems common practice for newspapers anywhere.
I remember a long time ago our local The Hague newspaper ran a story with picture about a record attempt of four parachutists on top of each other. All well, except they located the dtory in Switzerland instead f in Zandvoort where we saw it at the racetrack.
On contact with the newspaper they refused to rectify as 'it does not matter for the readers where it was'.

[Manny]

As far as the Dutch hippies of Greanpeace, most likely they will be allowed to serve their punishment in one of our state hotels. Though I am unsure they speak the mandatory Arabic.

I gather the one in Scheveningen is the one to be at. Not too many Moroccans there so I hear.