Russia will pay EUR 2.7 million (USD 3 million) to Greenpeace in compensation for unlawful detention of its ship Arctic Sunrise and 30 crewmembers in 2013.
This is a result of an agreement reached between Russia and the Netherlands, the environmental organization said.
The settlement comes after a lengthy legal process dating back to the boarding, seizing and detention of the Dutch-flagged ship in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation.
“We commend the Dutch government for taking a strong stance in favour of freedom of expression and peaceful activism,” Daniel Simons, Senior Legal Counsel at Greenpeace International, commented.
“Although Greenpeace International was not a party to this settlement, we are gratified to see the Russian government’s agreement with a declaration confirming the substance of the international tribunal’s ruling,” Simons added.
In September 2013, Greenpeace took the action to stage a protest at the Gazprom oil platform in the Pechora region. As a result, Russian authorities arrested the ship and the activists in the Barents Sea and brought them to Murmansk.
The crewmembers and two journalists, known as Arctic 30, were detained in the country for two months. The ship was only released after eight months.
JUSTICE!! After 6 years Russia finally acknowledges that the boarding of the Greenpeace-ship #ArcticSunrise and our arrest & detention was unlawful. This is victory for the freedom of speech and climate activism #Arctic30 pic.twitter.com/JmLpR3Wwu2
— Faiza Oulahsen (@faizaoulahsen) May 17, 2019
In July 2017, an international tribunal ordered Russia to pay EUR 5.4 million (around USD 6 million) in damages to the Netherlands related to the dispute. However, Russia did not initially recognize the court’s decision.
Simons explained that after the Arctic 30 receives the compensation, all the remaining money will go into campaigning against an oil industry.
World Maritime News Staff