Leading climate activists have been released from jail but 16 remain behind bars following arrests during the COP15

Tannie Nyboe and Stine Gry Jonassen, the spokeswomen for activist group Climate Justice Action, have been released from jail after their arrest last Wednesday.

Sixteen demonstrators arrested during the Copenhagen summit however, face spending Christmas in jail, reports The Guardian newspaper.

A third CJA spokesman, Tadzio Müller, was released on Saturday after a city court hearing, following his arrest earlier last week.

Christine Larsen of Climate Justice Action told The Guardian that the network was 'really happy that Tannie and Stine have been released, but they still face charges'.

'We are also thinking of the climate prisoners who remain in jail,' she said.

Nyboe and Jonassen were arrested while standing on a flatbed truck, speaking to the masses through bullhorns. One of the two allegedly told protesters to push the police cars blocking the entrance to the conference.

At a preliminary hearing for the protesters arrested last week, it was discovered that police had bugged Nyboe and Johanssen’s mobile phones and also intercepted some of the text messages.

Neither woman has yet indicated whether they will challenge their arrests in court, but Jonassen described the arrest as ‘a breach of accepted democratic principles’.