By Fatma Younis
A Finnish court on Thursday convicted the captain and a boatswain of the cargo ship Fitburg for damaging undersea telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea last December. The Helsinki District Court found both men guilty of aggravated sabotage and sentenced the captain to three years and six months in prison and the boatswain to two years and ten months. The court also ordered them to pay compensation for the costs of examining and repairing the cables.
Ship Details and Incident
The Fitburg, flagged in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was sailing from Russia to Israel when the incident occurred on December 31. The vessel was subsequently seized and inspected. Police said at the time that the ship had been dragging its anchor for hours in Finland's exclusive economic zone.
Anchor Dragged 130 Kilometers
According to a court statement, the anchor dragged along the seabed for about 130 kilometers (80 miles), damaging two telecommunications cables. The statement noted that the anchor's locking mechanism had been working properly when the ship left St. Petersburg the previous day. The indictment did not allege that the captain explicitly ordered the anchor to be lowered, but the court found that both defendants must have known it was dragging.
Defendants Deny Wrongdoing
Both defendants denied wrongdoing, according to Finnish broadcaster Yle. The court dismissed a charge of aggravated interference with telecommunications, saying it was covered by the aggravated sabotage charges.
Pattern of Baltic Sea Incidents
The cable damage was one of a string of incidents in the Baltic Sea involving ships linked to Russia. More broadly, The Associated Press has tracked around 200 incidents of sabotage and malign activity across Europe that Western officials have blamed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.
