Finnish Greenpeace activist Sini Saarela, who was detained in Russia for about two months, could be freed of charges – though the process may take months.
An amnesty approved by the Russian State Duma (Parliament) on Wednesday is likely to free 26 foreigners arrested in September during a protest against oil drilling in the Arctic. The Greenpeace activists, including Finland’s Sini Saarela, were arrested during a demonstration at a Gazprom oil platform in the Pechora Sea and eventually charged with hooliganism.
They could have faced prison terms of up to seven years, but will now apparently avoid trial and the threat of jail.
Last-minute changes to the amnesty proposed by President Vladimir Putin mean legal proceedings against the 30 are "almost certain" to end, says Greenpeace. The 26 non-Russians in the group should be able to go home.
Saarela could be home by New Year's - or might remain in Russia for months.
Greenpeace: No cause for celebration
Greenpeace representative Veera Visapää told Yle that the NGO does not plan to celebrate the apparent decision to drop proceedings against the protestors, as it does not believe they broke any laws during their protest.
She stresses that there are plenty of bureaucratic hurdles to be overcome before the activists can leave Russia. First the law must be officially ratified and then they must be formally freed by an Investigative Commission.
They must then be granted exit permits by the Russian migration authorities.
However it was still unclear on Wednesday whether the Greenpeace crew members could face new charges not covered by the amnesty. They were initially accused of piracy but authorities later changed that charge to hooliganism. The Investigative Committee has insisted the probe into the incident isn't over yet and that some of the crew members could face additional charges, such as assaulting a law enforcement official.
Saarela worried about Russian activists
Emma Kari, a Green League member of the Helsinki City Council and a friend of Saarela's, tells Yle that the activist is relieved by the decision. Saarela and Kari were together at a St. Petersburg hotel on Wednesday.
Kari says that Saarela is concerned about the fate of the Russian activists detained at the same time. Charges against them will also probably be dropped, but Saarela fears that they may face other repercussions.
President Vladimir Putin proposed the amnesty law to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Russian Federation’s constitution.
The amnesty could affect about 15,000 people, with up to 3,500 people being freed from jail, including the two jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot.
The amnesty will go into effect as soon as the bill is published in the government newspaper, which is expected to happen on Thursday. But it allows prosecutors a six-month period to carry it out, meaning some of the prisoners could in theory wait weeks or months before getting released.