Greenpeace To Appeal Russian Jailing Of Its Activists

Photographer Denis Sinyakov, charged with an illegal attempt at boarding the Prirazlomnaya oil platform, is seen before hearings on his pretrail detention in court in Murmansk on September 26.

The environmental group Greenpeace says it will appeal the decision of a Russian court to jail most of the activists who took part in a protest near an Arctic oil platform.

On September 26, the court in the northern city of Murmansk jailed for two months 22 of the 30 Greenpeace activists who were protesting near the platform last week.

Eight more were detained for three days pending a new hearing.

Greenpeace said in a statement on September 27 that it will appeal and was seeking the crew's immediate release.

No charges have been brought against anyone in the group.

Among those jailed is photographer Denis Sinyakov.

Reporters Without Borders on September 26 protested Sinyakov's jailing, while several Russian media outlets, including private NTV television, took all photographs off their websites in a show of solidarity with the jailed photographer.

Based on reporting by Reuters and ITAR-TASS