Interfax: Lawyers say custody conditions of Arctic Sunrise activists acceptable

ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 14 (Interfax) – Lawyers have met with several Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise activists in a St. Petersburg detention facility, a Greenpeace spokesman told Interfax on Thursday.

“The lawyers met with five environmentalists, including Russian citizen Andrei Allakhverdov, who had been placed into the Kresty [detention facility]. The detention facility is basically all right, and the conditions are acceptable. There are no serious complaints,” he said.

The lawyers visited two wards: the fifth “female” ward into which eight activists had been transferred and the first ward where 14 activists had been put but did not meet with some of the detainees.

Thirty Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise activists were transferred from Murmansk to St. Petersburg in a train car on Tuesday. They were put into three detention centers in St. Petersburg.

The Arctic Sunrise vessel of the Greenpeace international nature conservancy organization was detained in the Pechora Sea on September 19 for an attempt to stage a protest against the drilling done by the Prirazlomnaya oil platform. The coast guard escorted the Arctic Sunrise to Murmansk on September 24. It had a multinational crew of 30, including four Russians.

The Russian Investigative Committee’s department in the Northwestern Federal District opened a criminal case under Part 3, Article 227 of the Russian Criminal Code (an act of piracy committed by an organized group). Hooliganism charges were brought later. All the 30 Greenpeace activists were placed under arrest.