Russia loses case over Greenpeace ship

The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled Monday that Moscow must pay an undetermined sum for seizing the vessel and imprisoning 30 members of the ship's crew for two-and-a-half years.

The group - dubbed the Arctic 30 - had been arrested after two of its crew had attempted to scale a Russian offshore oil platform in the Arctic Ocean.

Greenpeace International's legal counsel Daniel Simons welcomed the decision.

"This protest occurred well outside of Russia's territorial waters and did nothing to satisfy the legal definition of piracy or hooliganism," Simons said in a statement. "We hope that this deters other countries from similarly aggressive attempts to stifle dissent, either on land or at sea."

Greenpeace opposes efforts to expand offshore oil and gas operations in the rapidly thawing waters around the Arctic, arguing that such operations pose a threat to the region's pristine ecology.

Greenpeace is seeks to sue Russia at the European Court of Human Rights for what it describes as the illegal detention of its activists, including four Russian crew members, who were released in an amnesty ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

Russia did not participate in the arbitration.

jar/jil (AFP, AP)