Greenpeace International activist Anthony Perrett of the United Kingdom shows to journalists his passport with permission to leave Russia, near the Federal Migration Service in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013. Russian investigators have dropped charges against all but one of the 30 crew of a Greenpeace ship, who were accused of hooliganism following a protest outside a Russian oil rig in the Arctic. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
December 26, 2013 - 2:42 AM
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Greenpeace says authorities have issued an exit visa to the first of its 30 ship crew members that allows him to leave Russia.
The 30 people were arrested in September following a protest outside a Russian oil rig in the Arctic and spent two months in jail before they were granted bail in November.
Hooliganism charges against the crew were later dropped after Russia's parliament passed an amnesty law that was seen as an attempt by the Kremlin's to assuage the criticism of Russia's human rights record before the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.
Greenpeace said Anthony Perrett of Britain was the first to get the visa in his passport Thursday.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013