Vragen aan de Hoge Vertegenwoordiger - Main contents
Donderdag 19 september is het Greenpeace-schip de Arctic Sunrise tijdens een vreedzame bezetting van een booreiland in de Pechora Zee geënterd door de Russische kustwacht. Intussen zitten de opvarenden nog steeds vast op verdenking van piraterij. Ik ben zeer verbolgen over deze schending van het internationaal recht en heb de Hoge Vertegenwoordiger Catherine Ashton gevraagd om opheldering over deze zaak. Lees hieronder de vragen die ik gesteld heb.
On September 19, 2013, the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise has been illegally boarded and seized by the authorities of the Russian Federation, when its crew was near the Prirazlomnaya oil platform, in a peaceful action intended to alert both public opinion and the Russian authorities on the risks involved in mining in the Arctic seas.
The vessel has been brought to Murmansk, while crew members are being detained and have been charged with "piracy", with up to 15 years of emprisonment as a potential penal consequence.
According to the internationally agreed texts of UNCLOS (art.101) piracy is defined by "any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft."
Obviously, the Greenpeace crew acted not for "private ends" but for what it seas as a public and global interest, and acted in a peaceful manner.
Does the High Representative agree that the reaction of the Russian authorities to the action by Greenpeace is fully disproportional and unacceptable in democratic states?
Does the High Representative agree that charging the crew with "piracy" willfully overlooks the fact that this was a a peaceful action by an NGO in which the members acted not as "pirates" but as concerned citizens?
Can and will the High Representative put urgent diplomatic pressure on the Russian authorities for the immediate and unconditonal release of the Greenpeace crew and its vessel?