By VITNIJA SALDAVA
Greenpeace International activist Miguel Hernan Perez Orsi of Argentina, left, reacts to a verdict and holds a photo of his daughter in a cage at a court room during a hearing that’s considering the investigators request to extend the detention of 30 members of the Arctic Sunrise Greenpeace International ship in St.Petersburg, Russia,Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013. Miguel Hernan Perez Orsi was released on bail of 2 million rubles ($61,500). (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Ana Paula Alminhana Maciel
Greenpeace International activist Ana Paula Alminhana Maciel of Brazil, foreground right, smiles as she is escorted from a court room after hearing that considers investigators request to extend the detention of 30 members of the Arctic Sunrise Greenpeace International ship in St.Petersburg, Russia,Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013.The 30 people arrested following a Greenpeace protest at an Arctic oil rig were transferred to St. Petersburg from Murmansk. Ana Paula Alminhana Maciel was released on bail of 2 million rubles ($61,500). (AP Photo/Evgeny Feldman)
David John Haussmann
Greenpeace International activist David John Haussmann of New Zealand stands in a cage at a court room during a hearing that is considering investigators’ request to extend the detention of 30 members of Greenpeace International ship, the Arctic Sunrise, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013. The 30 people arrested following a Greenpeace protest at an Arctic oil rig were transferred to St. Petersburg from Murmansk. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Denis Sinyakov
Russian freelance photographer Denis Sinyakov, left, who worked on the board of Greenpeace International Arctic Sunrise ship is escorted after a court session in St. Petersburg, Russia on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. The Russian coast guard seized the Greenpeace ship on Sept. 18 and arrested everyone on board after a few of the environmental activists tried to scale an offshore drilling platform owned by Russian state energy giant Gazprom. Denis Sinyakov was released on bail of 2 million rubles ($61,500). (AP Photo/Peter Kovalev)
Miguel Hernan Perez Orsi
CORRECTS SPELLING OF NAME – Greenpeace International activist Miguel Hernan Perez Orsi of Argentina and holds a photo of his daughter in a cage at a court room after the verdict at a hearing that considered the investigators request to extend the detention of 30 members of the Arctic Sunrise Greenpeace International ship in St.Petersburg, Russia,Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013. Miguel Hernan Perez Orsi was released on bail of 2 million rubles ($61,500). (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Camila Speziale
Greenpeace International activist Camila Speziale of Argentina stands in a defendants’ cage during hearings that consider the investigators request to extend the detention of 30 members of the Arctic Sunrise Greenpeace ship in St. Petersburg, Russia,Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013. A Russian court on Tuesday granted bail to Greenpeace protesters from Argentina, Brazil, New Zealand and Poland, the first foreign activists eligible to be released from jail while awaiting trial for participating in a demonstration outside a Russian oil rig. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday granted bail to nine foreign Greenpeace protesters, the first non-Russians jailed and awaiting trial over a demonstration near a Russian oil rig to be made eligible for release.
The decision came a day after the Primorsky court in St. Petersburg refused to release an Australian activist, and another court granted bail to three Russians, including prominent photographer Denis Sinyakov.
The Primorsky court set bail at 2 million rubles ($61,500) each for the activists from Argentina, Canada, Brazil, Finland, France, Italy, New Zealand and Poland. The court said they will be released if the bail is paid within the next four days.
One of the activists, Miguel Orsi of Argentina, clutched a photograph of his baby daughter and cried upon hearing the judge’s decision.
Greenpeace said it would make the money available as soon as possible.
Judges in Greenpeace hearings had previously agreed with prosecutors that the foreign activists in the case were a flight risk; the Primorsky court did not say whether the seven could leave Russia while on bail. No trial dates have been set.
Thirty people aboard a Greenpeace ship were detained in Russia’s Arctic in September for a protest outside a floating oil rig and have been in custody since. The activists were initially charged with piracy, but investigators later said they were bringing hooliganism charges and that the piracy charges would be dropped. People convicted of hooliganism are normally subject to fines, not prison sentences.
Nineteen other crew members are expecting court rulings on their detentions.
Former Beatle Paul McCartney had urged President Vladimir Putin to release all 30 detainees.
