Law of the Sea Tribunal Orders (Bonded) Release of 'Arctic Sunrise'

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has ordered the Russian Federation in a binding ruling to release the Greenpeace ship 'Arctic Sunrise' and the 28 activists and two freelance journalists on board upon payment of a EUR 3.6 million bond.

According to Greenpeace International Russia is now under an obligation to comply with the order: the Russian Constitution itself states that international law forms an integral part of the Russian legal system and Russian courts are under an obligation to implement the order. Greenpeace therefore expects Russia to respect UNCLOS and the Tribunal, as it has done in the past.


Jasper Teulings, General Counsel at Greenpeace International, said:

"In lodging this lawsuit, the Dutch government took a strong stance in support of the rule of law and the right to peaceful protest and for that we are grateful. Greenpeace is also a great believer in international law - after all one of the primary objectives of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is to protect the marine environment.



“We thank the Tribunal and the Dutch government for bringing the freedom of our friends in Russia a significant step closer. Given that Russia is traditionally a strong defender of the importance of adhering to international law and of the UNCLOS regime, we at Greenpeace assume the Russian Federation will comply with the order.”