ANCHORS AWAY — STRAIGHT THROUGH THE INTERNET! Helsinki District Court on Thursday convicted the Russian captain and an Azerbaijani boatswain of the cargo ship Fitburg for damaging undersea telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland, AP, Yle, and Euronews reported.
Captain Andrei Maksimenko drew three years and six months; boatswain Vusal Majidov got two years and 10 months. The court found they dragged the ship’s anchor along the seabed for about 130 kilometers on New Year’s Eve morning, cutting two telecom cables and risking seven other telecom and power cables plus a gas pipeline. DW/Reuters put joint damages near €1.9 million.
Fitburg — St. Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged, St. Petersburg to Haifa with steel — was seized Dec. 31. Both men denied crimes and challenged Finland’s jurisdiction; the court said the offences were intentional and the effects hit Finland. The ruling can be appealed. A separate Eagle S tanker cable case was dismissed earlier before an appeals court ordered a rethink.
Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration by Bugle Blast.
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