Court upholds ruling to inspect Greenpeace ship
MURMANSK. Nov 12 (Interfax) - The Murmansk regional court has upheld a lower court's ruling authorizing an inspection on Greenpeace's ship, the Arctic Sunrise, an Interfax correspondent reported.
An appeal against the ruling had been heard in the absence of Greenpeace defense attorney Sergei Golubok, who had filed the appeal. The ship owner's interests were represented by defense lawyer Alexander Mukhortov, who said that in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the ship is under the jurisdiction of the flag state. In addition to this, he argued, the Russian Criminal Code does not apply to foreign vessels.
Mukhortov made a point that the Arctic Sunrise had not gone through border or customs checks and, de jure, can not be qualified as a ship that has entered the Russian Federation.
The court did not grant the appeal, however, but amended the ruling, replacing the word "search" with "inspection."
The Arctic Sunrise vessel of the Greenpeace international nature conservancy organization was detained in the Pechora Sea on September 19 for an attempted protest against the drilling done by the Prirazlomnaya oil platform. The coast guard escorted the Arctic Sunrise to Murmansk on September 24. It had a multinational crew of 30, including four Russians.
An examination of the ship anchored in the Kola Bay began on September 28. The Russian Investigative Committee said that the Murmansk Leninsky District Court issued the search warrant. The ship was searched in the presence of captain Peter Henry Willcox and his lawyer. The detectives reportedly found drugs and equipment, "which might have had some use other than environmental."
The ship was impounded by investigators. It is now anchored in the Murmansk port.
The defense attorneys of the detained Greenpeace activists have said on many occasions that investigative actions aboard the ship would be illegal since the Arctic Sunrise was sailing under the Dutch flag and comes under the Dutch jurisdiction.
