A Russian court in Saint Petersburg has ordered the release on bail of Greenpeace member Gizem Akhan on Thursday.
Akhan, a university student from Turkey, was arrested on September 19 for staging a protest against an oil platform drilling in the Pechora Sea.
Akhan will be released pending trial after the bail amount, 2 million rubles (61,500 dollars), is paid. She will continue to stay in Russia until the legal investigation ends.
During a trial on Thursday in Primorsky Court, Justice Alla Yermakova mulled extending Akhan's detention following a request from the prosecution.
In her defense, Akhan said: "I have to protect the world that I live in, as a Greenpeace member I was there to point out the environmental problem in the North Pole. Animals and environments have to be protected, because of that I am detained for two months."
Defense Lawyer Natalya Gavrilova expressed concern for the prosecution's fickle pursuit for punishing Akhan.
Gavrilova said the prosecutor had initially sought a sentence of 15 years for Akhan on charges of "hijacking," but then converted it into 7 years for "hooliganism and mistreatment of security forces," without sufficient evidence for either charge.
Gavrilova then asked that Akhan be released on bail due to her good conduct and health condition, a proposal Justice Yermakova accepted.
28 Greenpeace members of 18 nationalities and two journalists had been behind bars since late September, after they attempted to climb on a platform that belongs to Gazprom Neft, the fourth biggest Russian oil producer.
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