its image in advance of the Games.
169 Russia’s external circumstances, and interpretation of its actions by the international community, were thus relevant in guiding
its behaviour towards compliance.
The concomitant release of two members of the Russian band Pussy Riot by the
amnesty
170 warrants comparison with the Arctic Sunrise; indeed, Fedotov collated
the two incidents in his aforementioned report to the relevant Council.
171 The band
members were sentenced to two years imprisonment for hooliganism on 17 August
2012, after protesting President Vladimir Putin’s re-election in a Moscow cathedral.
172 Their treatment was condemned by human rights groups, such as Amnesty
International,
173 as well as by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and
Germany.
174 However, Russian public opinion was less supportive: a July 2012 poll
found that 47% of participants thought the band had violated norms of public
morality, and 33% believed a sentence of up to seven years was appropriate.
175
Thus, Pussy Riot’s inclusion in the amnesty relied in part on external considerations,
as no domestic groundswell existed in Russia to compel their release; rather, it was
international pressure, informed by international human rights law, that affected
Russia’s policy calculus.
Notably, human rights issues also arise in the factual matrix of the Arctic Sunrise
dispute. First, the Netherlands posited that its claim before ITLOS relied on ‘individual rights and freedoms’, particularly the ‘right to liberty and security’.
176
Second, Greenpeace, in its amicus curiae submission to ITLOS, justified its protest
of the oil platform as an exercise of its ‘rights of freedom of expression and
assembly’, and the Netherlands adopted this argument in replies to questions.
177
169 See, e.g., Luke Harding and Francesca Ebel, ‘Pussy Riot and Arctic 30 amnesty is a Putin
masterstroke ahead of Olympics’, Guardian (online), 19 December 2013: https://www.theguardian.
com/world/2013/dec/18/pussy-riot-arctic-30-amnesty-putin-winter-olympics-sochi.
170 Steve Gutterman, ‘Russian amnesty to benefit Pussy Riot, Greenpeace 30’, Reuters (online),
20 December 2013: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-greenpeace-amnesty/russianamnesty-to-benefit-pussy-riot-greenpeace-30-idUSBRE9BH0FO20131219.
171 President of Russia, Press Release of 14 October 2014, supra note 165.
172 ‘Pussy Riot members jailed for two years for hooliganism’, BBC News (online), 17 August 2012:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-19297373.
173 Amnesty International, ‘EUR 46/014/2012: Public Statement’, 3 April 2012: https://www.
amnesty.org/download/Documents/20000/eur460142012en.pdf.
174 See, e.g., Nataliya Vasilyeva, ‘Pussy Riot members sentenced to 2 years in prison’, USA Today
(online), 17 August 2012: https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-08-17/pussyriot-verdict/57109992/1; ‘121 German Parliamentarians Support Jailed Pussy Riot Members’,
Sputnik
International
(online),
8
August
2012:
https://sputniknews.com/russia/
20120808175059708/.
175 Levada Center, Press Publication of 31 July 2012: https://www.levada.ru/2012/07/31/rossiyaneo-dele-pussy-riot/.
176 Arctic Sunrise (Provisional Measures), para. 87.
177 ITLOS, Case No. 22 The “Arctic Sunrise” Case (Netherlands v. Russia), Answers to Questions
by the Tribunal of 7 November 2013, p. 3.
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G. Kynaston and R. Brown
169 Russia’s external circumstances, and interpretation of its actions by the international community, were thus relevant in guiding
its behaviour towards compliance.
The concomitant release of two members of the Russian band Pussy Riot by the
amnesty
170 warrants comparison with the Arctic Sunrise; indeed, Fedotov collated
the two incidents in his aforementioned report to the relevant Council.
171 The band
members were sentenced to two years imprisonment for hooliganism on 17 August
2012, after protesting President Vladimir Putin’s re-election in a Moscow cathedral.
172 Their treatment was condemned by human rights groups, such as Amnesty
International,
173 as well as by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and
Germany.
174 However, Russian public opinion was less supportive: a July 2012 poll
found that 47% of participants thought the band had violated norms of public
morality, and 33% believed a sentence of up to seven years was appropriate.
175
Thus, Pussy Riot’s inclusion in the amnesty relied in part on external considerations,
as no domestic groundswell existed in Russia to compel their release; rather, it was
international pressure, informed by international human rights law, that affected
Russia’s policy calculus.
Notably, human rights issues also arise in the factual matrix of the Arctic Sunrise
dispute. First, the Netherlands posited that its claim before ITLOS relied on ‘individual rights and freedoms’, particularly the ‘right to liberty and security’.
176
Second, Greenpeace, in its amicus curiae submission to ITLOS, justified its protest
of the oil platform as an exercise of its ‘rights of freedom of expression and
assembly’, and the Netherlands adopted this argument in replies to questions.
177
169 See, e.g., Luke Harding and Francesca Ebel, ‘Pussy Riot and Arctic 30 amnesty is a Putin
masterstroke ahead of Olympics’, Guardian (online), 19 December 2013: https://www.theguardian.
com/world/2013/dec/18/pussy-riot-arctic-30-amnesty-putin-winter-olympics-sochi.
170 Steve Gutterman, ‘Russian amnesty to benefit Pussy Riot, Greenpeace 30’, Reuters (online),
20 December 2013: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-greenpeace-amnesty/russianamnesty-to-benefit-pussy-riot-greenpeace-30-idUSBRE9BH0FO20131219.
171 President of Russia, Press Release of 14 October 2014, supra note 165.
172 ‘Pussy Riot members jailed for two years for hooliganism’, BBC News (online), 17 August 2012:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-19297373.
173 Amnesty International, ‘EUR 46/014/2012: Public Statement’, 3 April 2012: https://www.
amnesty.org/download/Documents/20000/eur460142012en.pdf.
174 See, e.g., Nataliya Vasilyeva, ‘Pussy Riot members sentenced to 2 years in prison’, USA Today
(online), 17 August 2012: https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-08-17/pussyriot-verdict/57109992/1; ‘121 German Parliamentarians Support Jailed Pussy Riot Members’,
Sputnik
International
(online),
8
August
2012:
https://sputniknews.com/russia/
20120808175059708/.
175 Levada Center, Press Publication of 31 July 2012: https://www.levada.ru/2012/07/31/rossiyaneo-dele-pussy-riot/.
176 Arctic Sunrise (Provisional Measures), para. 87.
177 ITLOS, Case No. 22 The “Arctic Sunrise” Case (Netherlands v. Russia), Answers to Questions
by the Tribunal of 7 November 2013, p. 3.
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