WEST Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox has spoken passionately about the need for the British Government to appeal to Russian authorities on compassionate grounds for the safe release of the Greenpeace detainees.

The debate at which he spoke took place in Westminster Hall last week and was well attended by both the families of those held in Russia on piracy charges, and the MPs representing them.

In the opening lines of his speech, Mr Cox stressed that it is not helpful to those detained to insult or offend those holding them.

Instead, he said that the British Government must appeal to the Russian authorities and the Russian Ambassador, based on the compelling arguments provided by those held and their families.

He urged those holding the activists to reflect upon the proportionality of their actions, and stressed that neither being detained in a Russian jail, nor charged with piracy were proportionate responses, given that these young people were not there in illegal law breaking spirit.

Mr Cox said: 'I feel a powerful connection with the families of both Alex Harris and Kieron Bryan.

'These are Devonshire people who live and work in my constituency, an area which I am proud to represent.

'Alex and Kieron, along with the others who are being held, are idealistic young people, they were not there to break the law or to cause trouble.

'They are interested in peace, not violence, and were there only to make a point about drilling in the Arctic, and for that we should be proud of them.'

Mr Cox concluded his speech by referring to a letter written by Alex Harris in which she wrote that she hoped it was not her future to rot in a Russian jail.

He said: 'It is our job, the Minister's job, the Prime Minister's job – all who care for justice and freedom to see that it isn't their future.'