HELSINKI (Reuters) -The captain and two officers of an oil tanker accused of severing 5 undersea energy and telecoms cables when their vessel left Russia and sailed by means of the Gulf of Finland in late 2024 will stand trial in Helsinki on Monday.
Investigators have concluded that the Eagle S dragged its anchor alongside the seabed, severing the Estlink 2 energy cable connecting Finland and Estonia, and 4 web strains, main Finnish safety forces to interrupt the vessel’s journey and board it from helicopters after ordering it to maneuver into Finnish territorial waters.
The three defendants have denied all prices, and the captain advised Finnish public broadcaster YLE the incident was “a marine accident”.
NATO allies across the Baltic Sea went on excessive alert following the incident, one in every of a string of suspicious cable and fuel pipeline outages within the area since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Finnish prosecutors this month charged the Cook dinner Islands-registered tanker’s Georgian captain and Indian first and second officers with aggravated prison mischief and aggravated interference with telecommunications.
The utmost sentence for aggravated prison mischief is 10 years in jail, whereas aggravated interference with telecommunications carries a time period of as much as 5 years.
Prosecutors say the injury induced critical dangers to power provide and telecommunications in Finland, and that restore prices whole no less than 60 million euros ($70 million).
The defendants argue that Finland lacks jurisdiction within the case because the cables had been broken exterior Finnish territorial waters, and the courtroom has stated it can additionally contemplate this declare.
Finnish authorities detained the Eagle S after the cables had been severed and launched it once more in March, whereas upholding a journey ban on the three now dealing with trial.
A lawyer for United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ, the proprietor of the Eagle S, has additionally stated Helsinki lacks jurisdiction to intervene within the case.
Final week, a Ukrainian was arrested over the 2022 assaults on the Nord Stream fuel pipelines within the Baltic Sea. Each Moscow and the West have described the explosions, which largely severed Russian fuel provides to Europe, as sabotage.
($1 = 0.8619 euros)
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen, writing by Anna Ringstrom, modifying by Hugh Lawson)