A Russian court has denied bail to the captain of a Greenpeace ship and two other members of the “Arctic 30” who were detained in a direct action against Russia’s first Arctic offshore oil rig. Captain Peter Willcox and two others had appealed an order keeping them in pretrial detention until late next month. Six other participants have already been denied bail. The 28 environmentalists and two journalists are facing up to 15 years in prison on piracy charges. Captain Peter Willcox rejected the charges in court.

Peter Willcox: “I’ve been working on ships doing environmental work for 40 years. Never before have I been accused of using violence or doing something for my own personal gain. And I reject these accusations in the strongest way possible.”