Finland Sentences Fitburg Captain And Boatswain To Prison Over Damage To Gulf Of Finland Cables

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) According to Ukrinform, the Finnish public broadcaster Yle reported this.

The vessel's captain, Russian citizen Andrei Maksimenko, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison, while the boatswain, Azerbaijani citizen Vusal Medzhidov, received a sentence of two years and ten months.

Both were found guilty of aggravated criminal damage and ordered to be taken into custody immediately.

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The convicted men must also jointly compensate the victims for the costs of repairing the cables and gas pipeline, as well as the expenses incurred during the investigation into the damage.

The sentences imposed by the court exceed the minimum terms sought by the prosecutor, who had requested at least two and a half years in prison for each defendant for aggravated criminal damage and serious interference with telecommunications.

However, the court dismissed the separate charge of interference with telecommunications, ruling that this offence was already covered by the criminal damage charge for which the captain and boatswain were convicted.

The Helsinki District Court also ruled that Finland had jurisdiction to hear the case. In the court's view, the offences were intentional and had consequences affecting Finland.

The ruling has not yet entered into force and may be appealed.

As Ukrinform previously reported, on December 31 last year, Finnish telecommunications company Elisa announced that a submarine cable connection between Finland and Estonia had been damaged in the Gulf of Finland. Finnish authorities detained a vessel the same day on suspicion of damaging undersea telecommunications infrastructure.

On January 12, Finland lifted the seizure of the Fitburg cargo vessel. However, several crew members remained in the country.

In June, two sailors from the detained Fitburg were charged with damaging undersea cables.

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