Three of the 30 Greenpeace activists who were arrested in September for trespassing on a Russian oil rig named Prirazlomnaya were granted bail on Monday, Reuters reported.
The arrested activists were trying to climb the oil rig which is used to obtain Arctic energy resources which Greenpeace believes is extremely harmful to maintaining the arctic environment. If convicted for hooliganism, they may face sentence of up to seven years in prison, according to Reuters.
Colin Russell, an Australian, was denied bail by a separate court on Monday. He was a radio operator on the Arctic Sunrise, the Greenpeace ship used for the Sept. 18 protest.The court ruled that Yekaterina Zaspa, a Russian medic on the Arctic Sunrise who was not among those who tried to climb the rig, could be released on 2 million rubles ($61,300) bail.
The judge also granted bail to Greenpeace activist Andrei Allakhverdov, 50, and Denis Sinyakov, a 36-year-old photographer who was documenting the protest and was on the Arctic Sunrise when Russian coast guards forced their way aboard a day later.
Courts have repeatedly denied previous bail requests from all 30 people, whose term of custody ends on Nov. 24. But the judge at Zaspa's hearing said there were no grounds to extend her arrest for another three months. The 37-year-old smiled as she heard the ruling from a cage in the courtroom.
According to the judge, Sinyakov is a Russian citizen and married, with a child, suggesting he was less likely to flee Russia. Investigators said the arrests should be extended to prevent all 30 from fleeing abroad.
It was not immediately clear why the court extended the term of custody for Russell, who had not tried to scale the rig.
Western leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have expressed concern to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the case and Western celebrities have voiced support for the Greenpeace campaigners. Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney has asked Putin to help secure their release.
"I'm here to defend my innocence. I have not committed a crime," said Russell, who was led into court in handcuffs and confined to a defendant's cage. "I have not lifted a hand in an angry manner ever in my life. I have never been violent."
More bail hearings for the foreigners were scheduled for Tuesday.
"The case against the Arctic 30 has descended into high farce," Greenpeace representative Mads Christensen said in a statement. "They should all be released from prison. This is a scandal, this bears no relation to the administration of justice. We will do everything we can to get our people out."
Greenpeace, which said the protest was peaceful and the charges are unfounded, has been voicing alarm over the rush for the Arctic's energy resources, which it says threatens the region's pristine and unique environment.
The organization hopes the release of the 30 campaigners, who are from 18 nations, can be secured on Friday when the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is expected to rule in a case the Netherlands lodged against Russia.
The 30 activists had initially been charged with piracy, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Putin has said they were clearly not pirates but that they violated the law. Russia is boycotting the case, which means it's unlikely to adhere to the court's ruling.
