Amnesty International has called for hooliganism charges laid by Russia against the crew of a Greenpeace ship to be dropped.
The piracy charges were this week downgraded to hooliganism for the 30 crew from the Arctic Sunrise, who were detained during a protest near a Russian-owned oil platform in the Barents Sea last month.
The group includes two New Zealanders, David Haussmann and Jonathan Beauchamp. They were arrested after the ship approached a drilling platform and two activists tried to scale the rig, which is operated by Russian state-owned company Gazprom.
The executive director of Amnesty International New Zealand, Grant Bayldon, says the charges have no basis in Russian or international law.
"This is part of a pattern, and it seems to be aimed at scaring protestors, scaring people who want to dissent. We've seen the screw being tightened on protest over the last year especially, which is extremely concerning for Amnesty International."
Mr Bayldon says there is concern worldwide about the hooliganism charges, but he's not confident they will be dropped, nor that the 30 people charged will get a fair trial.
All 30 environmentalists remain in custody in the Russian port of Murmansk.
