Greenpeace to take activists' detention in Russia to human rights court

Lawyers for environmentalists detained in the Russian polar city of Murmansk would complain to the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR), Greenpeace said Monday.

"Complaints (against a Murmansk court decision to detain the activists) to the ECHR will be filed the day after the ruling over an appeal is made," Ivan Blokov, director of the Greenpeace-Russia, told reporters.

Earlier, 30 activists from 18 countries were remanded in custody by a district court in Murmansk for two months.

The court will hear the first appeal against its decision on Tuesday. Thus, the complaint to the ECHR could be filed Wednesday, Blokov said, adding complaints for all 30 detainees would be sent to ECHR during the week.

The lawyers also plan to ask the Prosecutor General's office to check whether border guards' actions against the activists, who were arrested aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, were within Russian law.

Russia's Investigative Committee has charged the environmentalists with piracy, alleging they tried to board an oil platform in Russia's exclusive economic zone in mid-September.

The activists planned to stage a protest against oil extraction on the Prirazlomnaya platform in the northern Pechora Sea.