Politics & Government

UPDATED: Markey, Warren Call on Russia to Release American Boat Captain with Framingham Ties

Boat Captain Peter Wilcox, who has been held in Russia for more than 60 days for engaging in a peaceful protest at an oil platform in international waters, has a sister living in Framingham.

Originally posted at 8:33 p.m. on Nov. 20. Updated with Wednesday.

A bail hearing was held for American citizen and Greenpeace boat captain Peter Wilcox in Russia and he was granted bail, according to his sister Sydney Tlurner of Framingham.

Framingham Patch will update when we have more details.

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Massachusetts Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren Monday called on the Russian government to release American citizen Peter Willcox, who has been held in Russia for more than 60 days for engaging in a peaceful protest at an oil platform in the Pechora Sea. 

Find out what's happening in Framinghamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Willcox, whose sister lives in Framingham, and reached out to Senator Markey’s office, is being held alongside another U.S. national, Dimitri Litvinov. 

Russian authorities took them into custody when several members of Willcox’s vessel scaled an oil platform to call attention to the devastation that could be caused by an oil spill to the sensitive nature of the Arctic environment and the region. 

During the protest, Willcox remained on the boat. The vessel was located in international waters when it was seized, leading the Kingdom of the Netherlands to allege that that the activists’ detention by the Russian Government violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. 

Wilcox and Litvinov have recently had charges against them reduced from pirlacy to criminal hooliganism, which still holds a possible sentence of seven years. 

“Mr. Willcox has strong ties to our home state of Massachusetts. His sister Sydney Turner lives in Massachusetts, as do several of his cousins. His entire family is deeply concerned about his well-being and worry that he is being unjustly punished,” write Senators Markey and Warren in a letter to the Ambassador to Russia. “In our view, no good can come from the Russian government continuing to hold Mr. Willcox and Mr. Litvinov in detention. In the interest of maintaining friendly and cooperative relations between our two countries, we urge the Russian government to dismiss all charges against Mr. Willcox and Mr. Litvinov and release them into the custody of the American embassy in Russia so that they may swiftly return to their families.” 

 


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