Third 'Arctic 30' Member Released on Bail

By The Moscow Times

Nov. 19, 2013

Allakhverdov, an Armenia-born radio journalist, at the detention hearing in Primorsky court, St. Petersburg.

A St. Petersburg court has released a third person among the 30 people who participated in a Greenpeace protest against Arctic drilling in September, the environmental group said on its website.

The court on Monday upheld a bail request for Greenpeace spokesman Andrei Allakhverdov, who was on board the organization's Arctic Sunrise ship when its crew members attempted to board Gazprom Neft's Prirazlomnaya oil rig in the Pechora Sea. Allakhverdov's bail was set at 2 million rubles ($61,300).

Earlier on Monday the court also released on bail medic Yekaterina Zaspa and freelance photographer Denis Sinyakov, who were also on board the Arctic Sunrise, in a move that was interpreted by some observers as a sign of leniency.

Previous bail requests for all the detainees had been denied.

But a separate court on Monday denied bail to another detainee, Australian national Colin Russell. (See related article.)

The protesters face up to seven years in jail on hooliganism charges if convicted.

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