Greenpeace vows to continue oil rig protests despite arrests in Russia

 
epa03958539 A handout photo released by Greenpeace International shows Freelance videographer Kieron Bryan (from the United Kingdom) at a bail hearing at Primorskiy Court in St Petersburg. The Russian Investigative Committee is applying to keep the 'Arctic 30' members in prison for a further three months while they investigate their alleged crimes. Some of the Greenpeace activists held over a protest at a Russian oil rig were granted bail earlier on 20 November. EPA/VLADIMIR BARYSHEV / GREENPEACE HANDOUT IMAGE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD BY EXTERNAL MEDIA FOR 14 DAYS AFTER RELEASE. TERMS OF DELIVERY: NO THIRD PARTIES, NO RESALE, NO ARCHIVE, FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY, NOT FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. CREDIT-LINE COMPULSORY. HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES
Pa24 November 2013

Greenpeace will "for sure" continue to stage oil rig protests despite having 30 activists taken prisoner by the Russian authorities, one of the Britons freed from detention has said.

Frank Hewetson said, that despite his ordeal, the organisation's method of scaling oil rigs in the Arctic would happen again.

But he said he could not for certain say they would return to Russia

Speaking on Sky News' Murnaghan, he said he had 23 years of experience and was "pretty good" at carrying out direct forms of action.

He said: "You have to take a technical approach if you are going to get on an oil rig. It has to be done safely, you have to have the right equipment, you have to have the training.

"We certainly know what we're doing and we're quite safe about it too."

Mr Hewetson added: "I think it will happen again for sure. I'm just not going to comment about whether it will happen in Russia, I just don't have the mental head space to make that sort of decision at the moment.

"But I personally want to go back to part of the Arctic."

Mr Hewetson, one of the "Arctic 30" detained by the Russians over a protest against oil drilling two months ago, said he was "still a bit shaken" after his ordeal and that their problems were not yet over.

Asked if he or his colleagues were free to leave Russia, he said: "No, we are definitely not free to leave Russia.

"I do have my passport, but part of the anomaly of the whole situation is we were seized - the ship and us illegally - we were brought into Russia without a visa. None of us can actually leave because we don't have a visa.

"So at the moment the trial is still on the cards. I think the investigation period ends in three months, so I could still be here in three months and the trial could still go ahead in three months."

However, he said he had been encouraged by the support their campaign to highlight the risks of Arctic drilling had received, saying it had gone from "strength to strength".

Mr Hewetson said: "I had been locked up in isolation, and when I came out, I was astounded at the enormity of the coverage, the support, and I think the change that a lot of people have had in understanding just how fragile the Arctic is, and I think the campaign has gone from strength to strength and I believe a lot more people support us for that, for our stand, for what we did."

He said Greenpeace was "always learning lessons" and the incident in Russia would be no different.

Asked if the non-governmental organisation would have allowed what it did in Russia, in light of the succeeding diplomatic problems, he said: "Greenpeace is a group of people, it's not a solid entity.

"And a lot of people have different feelings about having spent two months inside, it wasn't nice. And I'm still a bit shaken, it's been 48 hours or even less and you are obviously going to get a difference of opinion.

"I can't honestly say myself right now whether I would do it again, I would have to review that at a later stage."

He warned that oil companies drilling in the Arctic risked environmental disasters with consequences far worse than the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"If that happens underneath the ice they are stuffed and the fragile environment along with it," said Mr Hewetson.

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