Camila Speziale waits for the bail hearing at a court in Murmansk
Russian Foreign Ministry officially announced today that Moscow “will not accept the arbitration procedure in the Arctic Sunrise case”. Yesterday, the Dutch government asked the international Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to order Russia to release 28 Greenpeace activists and 2 freelancers detained during an environmental protest in the Arctic Sea.
“The Russian side has informed the Netherlands and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea that it doesn’t accept the arbitration procedure in the Arctic Sunrise case, and is not planning to take part in the tribunals,” an official statement by Russia’s FO reads.
The passengers and crew of the Dutch-registered ship face piracy charges and jail terms of up to 15 years for their protest near a Gazprom oil platform against oil drilling in Arctic waters. Among the arrested are Argentineans Camila Speziale and Hernán Pérez Orsi.
Provisional release would mean the activists could be let out of jail while they await their day in court on the piracy charges. Judges in the far northern port city of Murmansk have so far denied bail to all of them.
The Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea was set up to adjudicate maritime disputes under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which both countries have signed up to. The body has heard 21 cases since its first in 1997.
buenosairesherald.com