Greenpeace Captain From Norwalk Details Seizure Of Ship, Arrest In Russia

NORWALK, Conn. -- Norwalk native Peter Willcox gave his first phone interview to the New York Times about Russia's seizure of his Greenpeace ship, the arrest of his crew and their time in a Russian prison.

Norwalk native and Arctic Sunrise captain Peter Willcox is freed from a Russian prison after Greenpeace posted his bail Friday.
Photo Credit: *Kirill Andreev/Greenpeace*

by The Daily Voice

11/24/2013 5:01 a.m.

Willcox, captain of the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise, was released Friday with some of his fellow activists after being granted bail. The group, dubbed the Arctic 30, had been held since September when Russian authorities detained his ship, his 27 crew members and two photojournalists who were protesting oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

He described the frightening experience as automatic-gun-wielding commandos boarded the ship from helicopters and the trying days inside the freezing prison in Murmansk, Russia.

Willcox and the others were charged with piracy, but that charge has since been reduced to hooliganism.

Read the full interview with The New York Times here.

Read about Willcox's release Friday from a Russian prison here in The Daily Voice.

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