BERLIN – Russia has failed to appear before an international court that is hearing a Dutch bid to force the release of the Greenpeace protest ship Arctic Sunrise and the activists who were on board her.
Russia announced last month that it does not accept the arbitration procedure before the Hamburg-based International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
A representative for the Netherlands, Liesbeth Lijnzaad, urged the court Wednesday to proceed with the case despite Russia’s absence.
The 28 Greenpeace activists, a Russian photographer and a British videographer have been held since the Arctic Sunrise was seized by the Russian coast guard after a protest near a Gazprom-owned oil rig on Sept. 18.
The tribunal handles disputes related to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
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