Thirty people arrested in Russia over a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling have been taken to detention centers in St. Petersburg after arriving by train from the northern city of Murmansk.
Security measures were tightened at the railway station for their arrival on November 12.
Twenty-eight activists from the Greenpeace environmental group and two journalists were detained after a protest in September at a Gazprom oil rig.
The 30 were initially charged with piracy but those charges have been reportedly changed to hooliganism.
Russian investigators said the detainees were relocated because the hooliganism charges did not fall under the competency of Murmansk courts.
ITAR-TASS quoted Greenpeace Russia spokeswoman Maria Favorskaya as saying the focus now is on freeing the activists through legal channels.
She also said Greenpeace has not received any formal court ruling confirming that the piracy charges have been dropped.
Security measures were tightened at the railway station for their arrival on November 12.
Twenty-eight activists from the Greenpeace environmental group and two journalists were detained after a protest in September at a Gazprom oil rig.
The 30 were initially charged with piracy but those charges have been reportedly changed to hooliganism.
Russian investigators said the detainees were relocated because the hooliganism charges did not fall under the competency of Murmansk courts.
ITAR-TASS quoted Greenpeace Russia spokeswoman Maria Favorskaya as saying the focus now is on freeing the activists through legal channels.
She also said Greenpeace has not received any formal court ruling confirming that the piracy charges have been dropped.
