The Netherlands has asked an international court to order Russia to release 30 people detained during a Greenpeace protest against oil drilling in the Arctic.
The activists include New Zealanders Jonathan Beauchamp and David Haussman.
Reuters reports that the Dutch Government's representative Liesbeth Lijnzaad told the court Russia has violated the human rights of the activists, who tried to climb onto Russia's first offshore Arctic oil rig in September.
She says the group known as the Arctic 30 have been detained for seven weeks "without grounds".
Russia has refused to send a representative to the hearing of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, being held in the German city of Hamburg.
The Russians have charged the activists with hooliganism, which carries a maximum jail term of seven years.
The activists had earlier been charged with piracy, which carries a maximum jail term of 15 years, and Greenpeace fears the detainees may still face that charge.
