A court in Russia has sent all eight remaining Greenpeace activists to jail for two months, showing no leniency toward any of the 30 people detained for a protest at a drilling platform in Arctic waters.
Twenty activists and two journalists were ordered jailed for two months during a marathon court session on Thursday that stretched late into night, but the court ruled to hold the remaining eight only until new hearings could be held on Sunday.
No charges have been brought against any of the activists, who are citizens of 18 countries, including Russia.
Among them is Australian man Colin Russell and a British resident of Sydney, Alexandra Harris.
Russian prosecutors are considering whether to charge them with piracy, and the activists are being held pending the investigation.
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The Russian Coast Guard disrupted an attempt on September 18 by two of the activists to scale a platform owned by Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom to call attention to the environmental risks of drilling in Arctic waters.
The next day, the Coast Guard seized Greenpeace's ship, the Arctic Sunrise, and towed it to Murmansk with the crew and activists aboard.
Those ordered jailed on Sunday include Dima Litvinov, Greenpeace International spokesman, who has dual U.S. and Swedish citizenship; Finnish activist Sini Saarela, who was one of the two who tried to scale the platform; two British activists, Anthony Perrett and Frank Hewetson; two Dutch citizens; a Brazilian deckhand and a Ukrainian cook.
Hewetson's partner Nina Gold described the custody of the long-term activist as "wildly disproportionate and unjust".
"I would ask the Russian authorities to reconsider this unwarranted and harsh decision," she said in a statement issued by Greenpeace.
"His children and I are very concerned for him but know that he will be cheered by the support of millions of people worldwide which is bringing the destruction of the Arctic to international attention."
Greenpeace Russia campaign director Ivan Blokov has described the seizure of the ship as "the most aggressive and hostile act" against the environmental organisation since French government agents bombed the Rainbow Warrior ship in 1985, killing one man.
