14 DAY TRIAL // Today, Greenpeace announced that Russia had agreed to free 29 of the 30 environmentalists arrested earlier this year, in September.
Thus, it was this Monday when Phil Ball from Oxford, England was allowed to walk out of the detention center in St. Petersburg where he was kept for several weeks while Russian judges decided what to do with him and his colleagues.
“It’s absolutely brilliant news. After two months in jail he could have done without another weekend behind bars, but it’s a great relief to know he’s finally out and able to talk to his friends and colleagues,” his brother Steve told the press.
28 other environmentalists, including a doctor, a journalist and a videographer, were released from prison over the past few days.
As detailed on Greenpeace's website, Colin Russell from Australia is the only one of the Arctic 30 who is still imprisoned. For some reason, a local court of law in St. Petersburg has denied his request to be freed from prison on bail.
This happened despite the fact that, only a few days ago, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS, for short) ordered the country to release both the Arctic 30 and their ship, the Arctic Sunrise, from custody.
Colin Russell's wife, Christine, and daughter Madeleine are now asking that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott intervene and get Russia to free the environmentalist. A new hearing is scheduled to take place next week, to there is still hope that Colin will be returned to his family by Christmas.
For the time being, it is unclear whether or not the Greenpeace activists that have been released from prison are allowed to also leave the country and return home.
As reported on several occasions, the 30 environmentalists were arrested following a protest they organized against Russian company Gazprom.
Greenpeace maintains that the protest was a peaceful one, and that, despite the charges filed against them by Russian authorities, the Arctic 30 are by no means guilty of either piracy or hooliganism.