MOSCOW, November 16 (RIA Novosti) – US pop star Madonna and Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard have called for the release of Greenpeace activists and journalists jailed in Russia after an abortive protest against oil drilling in the Arctic Sea.
Greenpeace published in its Twitter account late on Friday a photo of Madonna with her quotes asking to “bring … home” the 28 activists and the two journalists detained in September aboard the Arctic Sunrise icebreaker.
Cotillard, the star of award-winning movie "La Vie en Rose" about French singer Edith Piaf, briefly caged herself with a group of environmental activists in Paris in a symbolic action protesting against the arrest of so-called Arctic 30, accordign to photos released by Greenpeace late Friday.
Earlier British musician Paul McCartney appealed with a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin to release the jailed crew.
The 30 people were held by the Russian authorities during a protest at an Arctic Sea oil platform run by an affiliate of energy giant Gazprom and subsequently placed in custody.
The charges have been criticized both in Russia and abroad. Investigators initially charged all 30 people aboard the icebreaker with piracy, but later downgraded the charges to hooliganism. They face a maximum punishment of up to seven years in jail, if found guilty.
