Greenpeace ship captain denied bail in Russia

Unpublished
Moscow - A Russian court has rejected bail requests from the American captain of a Greenpeace ship and two other foreign activists involved in a protest against oil drilling in the Arctic. Skipper Pete Wilcox, 60, and campaigners David John Haussmann, 49, and Camila Speziale, 21, had appealed against a pre-trial detention order. They are among 30 people being held in the city of Murmansk on piracy charges. A bail hearing is due to take place on Tuesday for Briton Frank Hewetson. Mr Hewetson, 45, who was a logistics co-ordinator on the ship, will appear alongside Swiss activist Marco Weber and Cristian D'Alessandro of Italy, according to a Greenpeace statement on Twitter. The Arctic Sunrise was seized nearly four weeks ago by Russian security forces after some activists tried to scale an offshore oil platform. So far all bail applications in the case have been refused. There is widespread international concern for the crew of the Arctic Sunrise, who hail from 18 nations and include six Britons. All those arrested have been accused of piracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years. The group have been placed in pre-trial detention until late November. (FA)

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