A Dutch government representative asked an international court to order Russia to release 30 Greenpeace activists who are being detained after trying to board a Russian oil shop in September, Reuters reported.
Representative Liesbeth Lijnzaadsaid said on Wednesday Russia had "violated the human rights" of the activists after detaining them for seven weeks "without grounds," according to Reuters. Russia did not attend the tribunal in Moscow in reference to the detainees, and said it does not recognize the case, according to Reuters.
Russia claims the activists and their ship, Arctic Sunrise, posed security threats to the workers and the oil rig, Reuters reported. Prosecutors charged the 30 activists with piracy, a sentence punishable by up to 15 years in prison, before lowering the sentence to "hooliganism" which carries a maximum jail sentence of seven years.
After the hearing in Moscow, Greenpeace international general counsel Jasper Teulings said the Netherlands and the activist group are staking a stance in support of the rule of law and right to protest, calling for Russia to release all detainees, Reuters reported.
Despite the Russian court's decision to lower the sentence in October, Teulings said Greenpeace still fears the 30 detainees still face the piracy charges, according to Reuters.
"Nothing has changed despite the statement by Putin and from the investigative committee that the charges would be requalified to hooliganism," Teulings said.
Last week, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stated they would support Moscow's stance that Greenpeace posed a threat to the Russian workers on board, as well as the ship, leading to extreme criticism in the West of Russia's extreme handling of the case, Reuters reported.
Rene Lefeber, another Dutch government representative, told the Hamburg court the area where the Greenpeace ship was arrested is considered an exclusive economic zone and gives nations the right to protect their natural resources, but cannot board or arrest a vessel, Reuters reported.
According to Lefeber, Russia's arrest of the vessel is illegal, all actions following the arrest, including the detention of the activists, are also illegal, Reuters reported.
Greenpeace representative Lijnzaad told the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in the German port of Hamburg that countries "do not have the right to seize vessels," or their crew, which belong to their countries in their "exclusive economic zones, according to Reuters.
Though maritime disputes and decisions are binding in the Hamburg court's, which were established by the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea, there is no way of enforcing them, Reuters reported. Tribunal president judge Shunji Yanai set Nov. 22 as the provisional date for a court decision.
