Paul McCartney has reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a formal letter to release the 28 activists and two journalists who were arrested after staging a protest at a Russian oil-drilling platform in the Arctic Ocean.
McCartney posted the letter, dated Oct. 14, on his website, part of which reads, "In my experience they tend to annoy every government! And they never take money from any government or corporation anywhere in the world."
The 30 people originally faced charges of hooliganism and piracy, but the piracy charges have since been dropped. It isn't clear why they were dropped, but a previous joint letter sent from 11 Nobel Prize laureates also requested that the charges be dropped. For piracy, the activists could have faced 15 years behind bars. The hooliganism charges alone still entail a maximum of 7 years in prison. The group has now been transferred to prisons in St. Petersburg.
With the acknowledgment that the Russian Government operates separately from Putin's presidency, McCartney still requested his help. He wrote: "They say they are willing to answer for what they actually did, so could there be a way out of this, one that benefits everybody?"
He also made reference to "Back In The U.S.S.R.," the famous Beatles song, saying, "That song had one of my favorite Beatles lines in it: 'Been away so long I hardly knew the place, gee it's good to be back home.' Could you make that come true for the Greenpeace prisoners?"
McCartney attempted to assure Putin that Greenpeace is not working on behalf of the western governments, they are not anti-Russia, and he hopes they will be able to be home for Christmas.
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