Poland 'limited' in help it can give Greenpeace activists
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
10.10.2013 08:37
Poland's foreign minister has said he is limited in the help he can give a Polish Greenpeace activist, who alongside 29 other activists, is being held in jail by Russia after a protest in the Arctic last month.
A handout photo made available by Greenpeace International on 08 October 2013 showing Greenpeace International contracted Russian freelance photographer Denis Sinyakov (on screen) during his bail hearing at a court in Murmansk, Russia.
"Our capacity to act is limited, especially in non-democratic countries," Radoslaw Sikorski has said.
"We can recommend a lawyer but we can't get someone out of jail," he added, as 30 activists, from 18 nations, are held by Russian authorities on piracy charges.
Russia claimed on Tuesday to have found drugs, including poppy straw and morphine, on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, seized during the protest on 18 September.
Greenpeace has denied the allegations, with a spokesman saying "perhaps Russia is referring to medical supplies".
Greenpeace's lawyer protested on Monday that the conditions that 36-year-old Pole Tomasz Dziemianczuk and the other activists were being held in the northern Russian port of Murmansk was 'inhumane'.
The Netherlands has demanded the immediate release of the detainees and the UK's Foreign Office has discussed the case with Russia's ambassador in London. (pg)