Finland is against a tanker with gasoline from Russia: the crew will be released, the lawyers will be paid

The Helsinki District Court refused to consider the case of the crew of the Eagle S tanker, which was carrying Russian gasoline and was seized by Finnish border guards on charges of breaking the power cable with Estonia. The judges supported the defense that Finland has no jurisdiction for such a case, and ruled that the state is now obliged to cover the services of lawyers for the crew of the tanker.

"The District Court today issued a decision to cancel the charges in this case ... together with the claims for damages arising from the charges, since Finnish criminal law could not be applied to this criminal case," the court said in a statement quoted by ERR.

At the end of December, Finnish border guards and the Navy seized the Eagle S tanker in the Gulf of Finland and forced it to enter the country's territorial waters. The crew was accused of breaking the power cable between Finland and Estonia. The police reported that the reason was the anchor, which was allegedly thrown from the side of the vessel, which was carrying gasoline from Russia. Later, the tanker was released, but the crew of the vessel was left.

According to ERR, the prosecutor demanded that Eagle S captain Davit Vadatchkor and his assistants Robert Egizaryan and Santesh Kumar Chaurasia be punished with at least two and a half years in prison without the possibility of parole.

"The decision of the district court means that the court did not consider the charges against the sailors on the merits. Consequently, the court also does not speak out as to whether they committed crimes for which they should be punished," the newspaper writes.

Such arguments were also given by the defense — the lawyer of the shipowner company Eagle S and the accused crew members themselves. Now the district court has come to the same conclusion.

The Finnish police have been investigating for six months, and the district court has been considering the case since the end of August.

"The state is now obliged to reimburse seafarers for legal aid costs, which amount to approximately 195,000 euros," ERR continues.

As EADaily reported, on September 27, the French Navy seized the Boracay tanker with Russian oil after leaving the English Channel and arrested the captain for disobeying the commands of the capture group. The prosecutor of Brest stated that the crew could not prove the registration of the vessel. At the same time, the European media discussed the possible involvement of the tanker in launching drones over Copenhagen airport, but the authorities did not officially accuse. Around midnight on September 2, the tanker was released. This happened after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the seizure of the tanker was piracy.