Earlier today the Russian government agreed to amend an amnesty bill to include the 28 Greenpeace activists and two freelance journalists that were arrested in September following a peaceful protest against oil drilling in the Arctic. The bill was just now officially adopted by the Russian Parliament.
This means legal proceedings against them will be stopped and they should be home soon if they choose to accept amnesty.I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief, but they're not celebrating. They've all spent two months in jail for a crime they didn't commit, faced absurd criminal charges and drilling in the Russian Arctic is set to start any day now.
As Peter Willcox, captain of the seized Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, said: "There's no amnesty for the Arctic."
After amnesty has been accepted and as soon as they have the necessary exit visas, they will be able to leave Russia. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the Russian authorities make the process speedy and allow them to spend the holidays with their families.
The support over the last four months has been overwhelming. There have been 860 protests in 46 countries, and more than 2.6 million people emailing their Russian embassy.
You've been at the heart of this - signing petitions, attending protests, getting your friends involved -- it has been an incredibly inspiring stand of solidarity.
No comments:
Post a Comment