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| Europe |
| Greenpeace Man Fears 'Losing Years of Life' in Russia |
| 2013-10-27 |
| The gift that keeps on giving. It would take a heart of stone not to laugh. Via Weasel Zippers. A British journalist detained in Russia after a Greenpeace protest has said he fears "losing years of his life" being kept away from his family and friends. Video journalist Kieron Bryan, 29, from London, was one of 30 people arrested on boat Arctic Sunrise at an offshore oil drilling rig on 18 September. He is one of six Britons charged with hooliganism. In a letter to the Sunday Times, Mr Bryan, originally from Devon, described his treatment as "ludicrous". The group of 30 - 28 activists, a photographer and video journalist Mr Bryan - had originally been charged with piracy, but Russian authorities dropped the charges last week, replacing them with hooliganism charges. That new charge has a maximum penalty of seven years rather than 15. Greenpeace denies any wrongdoing and is calling for the release of the detainees - who come from 18 countries - and the Arctic Sunrise. So far all bail applications in the case have been refused. 'Terrifying' In his letter, Mr Bryan said: "My greatest fear is being kept from my family, my friends and my girlfriend for any great length of time. "In many ways I'm lucky I don't have children who depend on me, but the fear of losing years of my life and the opportunity to perhaps start a family is terrifying." He said the hardest moment he had faced was his first night in prison when the group was split up and placed in different cells. "Now the difficulty is the silence and ignorance imposed by our detention," he said. He described his cell as 26ft long, 13ft wide and 20ft high. "I spend 23 hours a day in here with nothing but the occasional book and my thoughts," he wrote. "We are granted an hour a day for exercise which is held in a shed about 30 metres from my cell. If I'm lucky I might get to shout a quick hello to an English speaker." He also described some of the food provided. Lunch - soup and a fish stew - "tastes like an ashtray full of seawater," he said. Another dish "is clearly boiled from breakfast onwards". |
| Posted by:Raj |
| #13 Your girlfriend has probably already jumped ship. |
| Posted by: gorb 2013-10-27 23:59 |
| #12 BBP Formula |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2013-10-27 19:48 |
| #11 #6 My greatest fear is being kept from my family, my friends and my girlfriend for any great length of time. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of young men and women have been doing that since 9/11. They knew it wasn't a game. Many will not see their families, friends or girlfriend again. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-10-27 19:47 |
| #10 Work out pi to 500 places. Then we move on to e. He's a journalist. It'd be fortunate if he could do basic math. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-10-27 19:10 |
| #9 Well AP. I would suggest trying e first. The Maclauren series for e^^x converges quite rapidly when x=1. To get pi requires some tricks. You can't just do a series for arctan(1) because it converges very very slowly. 10 decimal places would require a billion terms or so. Perhaps some continued fraction or such might help to complete the task in seven years. |
| Posted by: hupailingebbuns 2013-10-27 18:26 |
| #8 ...more (different "guest") here: Jailed activist tells of life in cold cell Weasel Zippers also |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2013-10-27 17:54 |
| #7 Well, Kieron, time to do something stimulating and useful during your time in detention. Work out pi to 500 places. Then we move on to e. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2013-10-27 17:46 |
| #6 My greatest fear is being kept from my family, my friends and my girlfriend for any great length of time. You should have considered it FIRST. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-10-27 17:13 |
| #5 Hahahahabbahhanaahnbabahahananjaaaaa! |
| Posted by: Iblis 2013-10-27 16:51 |
| #4 Typical for that age, "We are doing what we think is good! How dare they even consider it against the law!" Just like the occupy crowd, except these clowns are going to get justice. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2013-10-27 16:07 |
| #3 Q. How do you say "complaint box" in Russian? A. Parasha. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-10-27 16:06 |
| #2 That's what you get for participating in a CRIME (and crime it was), especially in a non-Western country. Don't do the crime if you can't do the hard time. Idiot. Have fun in Siberia. At least it won't be cold - you clowns do believe in Gerbil Worming, don't you? |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-10-27 15:44 |
| #1 He should of ordered the t-bone instead of the fish stew. All complaints should be written and placed in the complaint box conveniently placed just outside the prison front-gate. |
| Posted by: Airandee 2013-10-27 15:33 |