Dutch take Russia to maritime court to free Greenpeace activists
Source: Reuters
Dutch take Russia to maritime court to free Greenpeace activists
HAMBURG | Tue Nov 5, 2013 6:09pm EST
(Reuters) - The Netherlands will ask an international court on Wednesday to order Russia to release 30 people detained during a protest against oil drilling in the Arctic.
The detainees, two of whom are Dutch, have been charged with hooliganism for the September 18 protest in which Greenpeace environmentalist activists tried to scale Russia's first offshore Arctic oil rig.
The Dutch hope the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg will make a ruling by mid-November that would secure the provisional release of the captives who have all been denied bail in a case that has strained relations with the West, particularly the Netherlands.
Russia has told the court it does not accept the Netherlands' case and will not participate in the proceedings that will start, in any case, on Wednesday.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/05/us-russia-greenpeace-netherlands-court-idUSBRE9A41AD20131105