12 Oct 2013

Russian court turns down Greenpeace bail bid

12:40 pm on 12 October 2013

The prospect of two New Zealand Greenpeace activists being granted bail from a Russian prison look gloomier after a bail application for two of their colleagues was rejected.

David Haussmann and Jonathan Beauchamp are among a group of Greenpeace activists arrested on charges of piracy after an attempt to scale a Russian oil rig in in a protest against drilling in the Arctic Circle .

The regional court in the Russian city of Murmansk has denied a bail application on behalf of two British members of the 30-strong group a decision that casts a shadow on plans to apply next week for the release of the two New Zealanders.

The head of the Kremlin's Human Rights Council, Mikhail Fedotov, says the activists cannot be charged with piracy as they did not have an intention to seize the oil rig.

He says the council will appeal to the general prosecutor to try to change the decision.