A Finnish district court ruled on Friday that it does not have jurisdiction to prosecute the captain and two officers of the Eagle S oil tanker, who are accused of breaking undersea
A Finnish district court ruled on Friday that it does not have jurisdiction to prosecute the captain and two officers of the Eagle S oil tanker, who are accused of breaking undersea power and internet cables in the Baltic Sea last year.
Finland has said the Eagle S is part of a shadow fleet of tankers used by Russia to circumvent sanctions on its oil exports. The December 25 incident was one of a string of cable and gas pipeline outages in the Baltic Sea since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, putting NATO forces in the region on high alert. Russia has denied involvement in cable cutting.
The trial was among the first judicial attempts to punish suspected perpetrators for damaging critical underwater infrastructure, but is complicated by provisions of international maritime law and the difficulty of proving criminal intent. The three crew members denied the charges.
"The District Court has today issued a judgment dismissing the charge in the case... along with the claims for damages arising from the charge, as it was not possible to apply Finnish criminal law to the case," the court said in a statement.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
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