The St. Petersburg City Court has granted bail to Australian national Colin Russell, the radio officer of the Greenpeace-operated vessel Arctic Sunrise, who had been the only Arctic Sunrise activist remaining in custody until recently.
The court set the bail for Russell at 2 billion rubles, an Interfax correspondent reported. The activist himself took part in the hearing through a video link with the detention center where he was held. Russell will be freed as soon as the money is transferred to the court’s or the investigation’s bank account.
A prosecutor supported the defense’s request on granting bail to Russell. An investigator objected to this and insisted on holding Russell in detention.
Russell himself also asked the court to release him on bail.
The court said in its ruling that the money must be deposited by December 6.
A Greenpeace spokesperson told Interfax that the organization plans to post bail on Thursday so that Russell could leave the detention center on Friday, November 29.
St. Petersburg courts earlier granted 2-million-ruble bails to 29 Arctic Sunrise crewmembers, who have already been released from detention centers, and only Russell’s arrest was extended by the Primorsky District Court in St. Petersburg.
The Russian Coast Guard stopped the Arctic Sunrise vessel operated by Greenpeace in the Pechora Sea on September 19 after some environmentalists attempted to protest against oil extraction on the Prirazlomnaya drilling platform. The Arctic Sunrise was towed to Murmansk on September 24, and a local court imposed a two-month arrest on all of the 30 members of its international crew. On November 12, all these people were brought to St. Petersburg and placed in local detention centers.
A law enforcement source told Interfax on Wednesday that the environmentalists released on bail could move freely, even leave Russia, after certain legal issues in relation to them were settled.
