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A court in the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk has remanded 22 activists from a Greenpeace ship in custody for two months for allegedly trying to seize an oil platform. Another eight people from the Arctic Sunrise were detained for three days pending a new hearing. The activists - who hail from a total of 18 countries - are being held pending a "piracy" inquiry, but Greenpeace says the activists were staging a legal, peaceful protest. Among those detained was Iain Rogers from Devon. He said the activists had been made to comply with the Russian authorities against their will and that the justice system was "corrupt".

A court in the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk has remanded 20 activists from a Greenpeace ship in custody for two months for allegedly trying to seize an oil platform. The crew of the Arctic Sunrise ship, who hail from 18 nations, are accused of "piracy" against an oil platform. Russian coastguards intercepted the ship on 19 September after two activists tried to haul themselves onto an offshore drilling platform operated by the Russian company Gazprom. Greenpeace says the activists were staging a legal, peaceful protest. Warning shots were fired as they were apprehended. Watch footage of the incident.

The environmental organisation Greenpeace is to appeal against the detention of 30 of its activists in Russia over a protest in the Arctic. It demanded their immediate release, after a court in Murmansk remanded 22 of them in custody for two months pending an investigation. Eight other activists face a new hearing on Sunday. The crew of the Arctic Sunrise ship, who hail from 18 nations, are accused of "piracy" against an oil platform. However, President Vladimir Putin has said the Greenpeace activists are clearly not pirates, though they may have broken international law. Led by Captain Peter Henry Willcox, who previously commanded Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior ship when it was blown up by French agents in a New Zealand port in 1985, the activists were protesting against the Arctic oil and gas industry. Greenpeace says drilling for oil in the Arctic puts a delicate environment at risk. Russian coastguards intercepted the ship on 19 September after two activists trie...