Russia accuses Brazilian woman and Greenpeace members of piracy.
The decision was based on a protest against oil exploration in the Arctic held on a platform belonging to the Russian state-owned company Gazprom; the NGO's boat approached the platform and two activists attempted to invade the site; the accusation could lead to Brazilian environmentalist Ana Paula Alminhana Maciel, Russian Roman Dolgov, Finnish Sini Saarela, English cameraman Kieron Bryan, and Dima Litvinov, an activist with Swedish and US nationalities, being imprisoned for up to 15 years.
MOSCOW, Oct 2 (Reuters) Russian authorities on Wednesday accused Greenpeace activists of various nationalities, including a Brazilian, of piracy for protesting against oil exploration in the Arctic on a platform owned by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom, the environmental group said.
Considered absurd by Greenpeace, the charge of piracy can lead to up to 15 years in prison.
A Russian federal investigative commission said authorities have already begun formally charging the 30 people detained after last month's protest, in which a Greenpeace vessel approached the platform and two activists attempted to storm the site, considered crucial to Russia's efforts to extract mineral resources in the Arctic.
Brazilian environmentalist Ana Paula Alminhana Maciel, Russian Roman Dolgov, Finnish Sini Saarela, English cinematographer Kieron Bryan, and Dima Litvinov, an activist with Swedish and US nationalities, were the first five accused.
The Brazilian embassy in Moscow was instructed by the Brazilian Foreign Minister, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo, to issue a "letter of guarantee" so that Ana Paula can await trial in freedom, Itamaraty (the Brazilian Foreign Ministry) informed in a statement on Tuesday.
"It's an extreme and disproportionate accusation," said Greenpeace's international executive director, Kumi Naidoo.
"An accusation of piracy is being leveled against men and women whose only crime is possessing a conscience. This is an outrage and represents nothing more than an attack against the very principle of peaceful protest."
A court in the northern Russian city of Murmansk has ordered that all 30 people from 18 countries who were aboard the Greenpeace icebreaker Arctic Sunrise be held in custody for two months while investigations are carried out.
The environmental group claims that the protest was peaceful and posed no threat, and that the piracy accusation has no basis in Russian or international law.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that the protesters were clearly not pirates, but had violated international law.