I was forced to survive on bread and water in Russian prison because it didn't serve vegetarian alternative says freed British Greenpeace activist

Anthony Perrett was released from Russian prison last week



The environmentalist spoke of disease-ridden conditions behind bars



The vegetarian survived on bread and water to avoid prison meat

The 33-year-old used drawings to communicate with foreign cellmates



Perrett is one of Arctic 30 held in Russia on hooliganism charges



He was released under new amnesty laws along with four others



A Greenpeace campaigner claims he was forced to live on bread and water while being held in a Russian prison because it didn't offer a vegetarian alternative.



Antony Perrett arrived home yesterday after spending two months in prisons in Murmansk and St Petersburg for trying to hang a climate change banner on an oil rig.



The former town councillor is one a group of environmental activists known as the Arctic 30 who were being held in Russia on hooliganism charges.

Since being released under a new amnesty law, the 33-year-old has revealed he refused to eat some of the food offered to him behind bars.

Greenpeace activist Anthony Perrett has returned to his home in Newport, south Wales with his girlfriend Zahara Ally, after spending two months in Russian prison

'All the prison food had low grade meat of unknown origin in it. I'm a vegetarian and I lost a lot of weight,' he said from his home in Newport, South Wales.



Perrett said he passed his time in the rodent-infested jails by doing drawings with paper and pencils sent in a Greenpeace parcel, and communicating with other prisoners by whistling.



'We were not 100 per cent isolated but we were in cells 23 hours a day. We would have one hour to exercise in a four metre square cell with no roof.



'We would shout over the wall and speak to different people every day, some days they would be Russian and some days they would be crew mates.'



'We chatted and stuff and whistled the Great Escape, that was kind of a farewell.'



Perrett and his fellow activists were arrested on board the Greenpeace ship, Sunrise, by Russian authorities in September.

The campaigner spent much of his time behind bars drawing pictures with pencils and paper delivered in a Greenpeace parcel The former town councillor said he was more able to communicate with foreign cellmates by drawing pictures

He was originally charged with piracy but had the offence dropped in favour of hooliganism for his hand in the protests.

If convicted, he could have spent seven years in the squalid prison where disease was rife.



'The entire first floor of the block was contaminated with TB,' he said.



'You would see all the guys on the first floor wearing face masks, there was a real risk of tuberculosis everywhere.'



The freezing temperatures however meant insects were few and far between.



'One virtue of being in Murmansk is that it's freezing so pests are not a huge problem.

'There were a lot of rats and stray cats in there. One night there was a midnight raid and I found myself face to face with a guard dog,' recalls Perrett who said he would protest in the country again but only after a shift in government.



After a month in Murmansk, the campaigner was moved to Kestry prison in St Petersburg.



Perrett said the Kestry prison in St Petersburg was riddled with stray cats and rats and that parts of the jail were contaminated with tuberculosis

Perrett said he communicated with other Greenpeace activists by whistling over prison walls. In spite of his ordeal, the 33-year-old said he would 'do it all again'



It's good to be back: Perrett said it was 'fantastic' to be back in Wales after finding out he would be released on Christmas Eve The reunited couple are pictured arriving back in Britain after flying from St Petersburg, Russia

'One of my cell mates was a convicted robber and had assaulted a police officer with a deadly weapon and the other chap was a suspected gangster.

'I got on very well with them, they were nice to me,' said Perrett who, in spite of everything, would 'do it all again.'



'I have been locked in cells with seven Russian gangsters, many with ears and fingers missing, scars of violence all over them. I was just accepted as one of them.'

Kieron Bryan spent his time behind bars planning how to propose to his girlfriend

He was even able to overcome language barriers by showing drawings to his foreign cellmates.



'I made a lot of drawings, I could explain stories through drawings and create crude comic books for what I was trying to explain.

'I made hundreds, absolutely hundreds of drawings. I gave them to various different people. I've a few left.'



Perrett was bailed on November 20 and was joined by his girlfriend, Zahara Ally, in Russia.



He arrived in London last week along with four other activists, including Keiron Bryan, who spent his time in prison planning how to propose to his girlfriend.



The 29-year-old popped the question to Nancy Thorburn, 27, when the pair were reunited in St Petersburg.



'I decided while I was in prison that I wanted her t o be my wife,' said Bryan who spent 60 days in jail.



The journalist told the Sunday Times: 'We were only going to have 36 hours together so I didn't think I would ask her but as soon as I saw her I just knew I had to.'



Greenpeace is now keen to retrieve its boat whose return has been ordered by the international court of the sea.

'Give us back the Sunrise! That would be great,' added Perrett who has returned home from freezing conditions to a broken boiler.

Back on British soil: Anthony Perrett, Kieron Bryan, Alexandra Harris, Iain Rogers and Phil Ball arrived in London last week after being arrested in Russia in September

Greenpeace is now eager to retrieve its ship, the Sunrise, after the international court of the sea ordered its return

He arrived in London on Friday 29 December with activists Alexandra Harris and Phil Ball, Sunrise crew member Iain Rogers and freelance videographer Kieron Bryan.

The campaigners were told they were going to be released on Christmas Eve.



'It's fantastic being back,' Anthony said. 'I stopped at the Severn Bridge and paid my toll and they were like, "Oh, hello, how's it going?"'

'Everyone has been up for a bit of banter. It's great to be able to communicate with people after spending so long speaking broken English and broken Russian.

'It's nice to get home and not have to explain my jokes.'



