Initiator of the Arctic Sea capture may go to jail for 4 years

02.12.2010 Public prosecutors requested to sentence Latvian businessman Sergei Demchenko charged of hijacking of cargo ship Arctic Sea in summer 2009 to the 4-year long imprisonment, reported Russian Agency for Judicial Information (RAJI) referring to a participant of the proceeding.

According to investigators, Demchenko did not take part in the vessel capture personally, but was involved in training of pirates and later on tried to sell the captured cargo ship.

The ship with 15 Russian crewmen was sailing from Finland to Algeria while was hijacked late July 2009; Arctic Sea was found on Aug 16, 2009 in the Atlantic nearby African island state of Cape Verde. As for investigators, the ship was captured by citizens of Estonia, Latvia, and Russia. The crew released operation was successfully conducted by Russia's Black Sea Fleet servicemen.

Earlier on, two participants of the Arctic Sea case faced the Moscow City Court. The gang leader Dmitry Savins (native of Latvia) was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment, and pirate Andrei Lunev got five years.

The court session was held yesterday in camera, for the sake of the defendant's security. Both prosecution and defence refused to comment the case.

According to one of the trial's attendants, Demchenko admitted guilt and repented the crime he had committed. He faced a special procedure and the verdict will be declared on Dec 3.

Circumstances of Demchenko's arrest and his evidence are still undisclosed.

When being charged in July of leadership in ship hijacking, Savins said Demchenko had been one of his assistants and the crime initiators.

Alexei Andriushin, Dmitry Bartenev, Alexei Buleyev, Igor Borisov, Vitalijs Lepins, and Evgeny Mironov are also charged of piracy (cl. 227/3, RF Criminal Code). They can be put to jail for up to 15 years. Arkhangelsk Regional Court will hear this case in Dec.