Finland Times

Most of the detainees remained in the jails in Nordic countries while about 30 people are in the jails in other parts of the world, said sources.

The ministry officials said that Sini Saarela, the Finnish activist of environment organisation Greenpeace is the fourth Finnish who are in the custody of Russian authority as three other Finnish nationals are also facing legal charges in Russia.

Sources said that most of the detainees abroad are accused of drugs related crimes but the arrest of an environment activist like Sini Saarela  is rare experience for the ministry.

“We have no experience of dealing with an accused of environment movement abroad,” Head Counsellor of the ministry of foreign affairs Teemu Turunen told STT, adding that most of the arrested in foreign jails are  facing drug charges.

Teemu Turunen also said that the Finnish missions abroad generally take care of detainees when they are deprived of their rights to defend in the court.

“When Finnish nationals face difficulties to get lawyer and interpreter, our embassies and consulates help them in this regard,” said the foreign ministry official.

Teemu Turunen said that the responsibility of the ministry is to ensure equal treatment for them irrespective of nationalities and languages.

In some countries the accused cannot speak in their own language, which creates bad situation for them, Turunen.

The Russian authority on Sunday sent the Finnish environment activist of the Greenpeace, Sini Saarela to two-month pre-trial detention in custody till November 24, environmental organization Greenpeace said.

The prosecutor along with other Greenpeace activists accused Saarela of piracy saying that now they would not be able to destroy any evidence in the Arctic Sunrise, the ship of the Greenpeace.

Saarela, however, denied the allegation of piracy brought against her.

“I will not destroy any evidence because the evidence would prove that we are innocent and were there in a peaceful manner,” said Saarela to the court, according to Greenpeace.