MOSCOW, December 24 (RAPSI) – The Arctic Sunrise Twitter account tweeted Tuesday that the case has been dropped against the first of the Greenpeace activists detained over a protest staged in September at a Russian Arctic oil rig.

“GOOD NEWS: First of the #Arctic30 has had the investigation against him officially dropped. Home is one step closer,” the Arctic Sunrise Twitter account reads, in a statement that was then retweeted by the Greenpeace account.

A statement presently on the front page of the Greenpeace website says: “Legal proceedings against the Arctic 30 can come to a close after the Russian parliament agreed to include them in an amnesty marking the 20th anniversary of the country's constitution. The Duma voted for an amendment that extends an amnesty decree to defendants who have been charged with hooliganism.”Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not rule out the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise crew may be pardoned pursuant to the amnesty arranged to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

The Duma passed the amnesty bill, which was originally submitted by President Putin, in its first reading.  It has entered into effect, having been published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta - the governmental publication that prints all bills after they have been approved.

The Arctic Sunrise ship was seized by Russian border guards on September 19 in international waters, within Russia's exclusive economic zone, a day after two Greenpeace activists scaled the Prirazlomnaya drilling rig in the Pechora Sea, the southeastern part of the Barents Sea.

The platform, owned by Gazprom Neft Shelf, a subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom, is the first ice-resistant stationary oil platform in the world set to produce offshore Arctic oil.

Greenpeace and other environmental groups oppose drilling for oil in the Arctic because they say that it is currently impossible to sufficiently clean up potential oil spills in the region, and that such drilling cannot be economically viable.