A Russian court on Thursday ordered the release on bail of the last of 30 Greenpeace crew members who had been held in detention since their September protest against Arctic oil drilling.
“Excellent news! Colin Russell from Australia is granted bail,” the global environmental protection group tweeted in a message that was confirmed by Russian news agency reports from the Saint Petersburg court.
Russell – the radio operator on the ship Arctic Sunrise – was the first of the 28 activists and two journalists on board to have had his case heard by the Saint Petersburg court.
A Saint Petersburg judge on November 18 ordered to extend the arrest of the 59-year-old Australian until February 24 – a day after the end of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games hosted by Russia.
But the city’s courts later ruled to release all of the other crew members on bail amid mounting international pressure on Russia.
