A Tasmanian man held prisoner for two months after Russian commandos
stormed a Greenpeace ship is feeling vindicated after an international court ruled in his
favour.
Colin Russell was held in a Russian prison after the Dutch-flagged Arctic Sunrise was boarded in September 2013 and the 30 Greenpeace activists
and journalists were detained.
The permanent court of arbitration has found “the Netherlands is
entitled to compensation with interest for material damage to the Arctic
Sunrise”, the Hague-based body said in a statement on Monday.
It is unclear if the crew is also entitled to compensation.
“I said all along I haven’t done anything wrong,” Russell said on
Tuesday.
He and the rest of the “dirty, old, bloody hippies running round trying
to protest” Arctic oil drilling spent two months in jail before being given
amnesty.
“I suffered a little bit; I’m
still recovering in a way,” he said.
“It’s still pretty fresh in my
mind, and I’ve also said on the international stage I’m vindicated, but in Russia it’s still written down that I was given amnesty for a crime I didn’t
commit.”
Emma Gibson, of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said the protest against
the Russian state-owned oil giant Gazprom took place well outside Russia’s
territorial waters.
“This ruling shows that governments cannot act with impunity against
groups like Greenpeace, and against civil society,” Gibson said.
The activists – who became known as the “Arctic 30” – were initially
accused of piracy, a charge later changed to hooliganism, and detained for two
months, before being bailed and then benefiting from a Kremlin-backed amnesty.
“Governments are not elected to go out and be the police, the armed
guards of the fossil fuel industry,” Russell said.
Russia did not take part in the arbitration hearing.
No comments:
Post a Comment