A French court docket Monday issued an arrest warrant and a one-year jail sentence towards the Chinese captain of a suspected Russian “shadow fleet” tanker over failing to adjust to orders to cease his ship.
Chen Zhangjie, 39, was sentenced in absentia after the French navy boarded the Boracay tanker in September earlier than releasing the vessel and its crew days later, in what Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned as “piracy”.
The court docket within the western metropolis of Brest additionally ordered Zhangjie to pay a 150,000-euro ($172,000) nice.
The vessel, claiming to be flagged in Benin, was considered a part of a fleet transporting Russian oil in violation of Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Read extraFrench navy boards Russia-linked tanker in Mediterranean
Two workers of a Russian non-public safety firm had been on board the Boracay when the French navy stopped it, an knowledgeable French supply and the captain’s lawyer have advised AFP.
They had been accountable for representing Russian pursuits and gathering intelligence, they mentioned.
The Boracay has been linked to mysterious drone flights over Denmark final 12 months, a part of a spate of drone sightings and airspace violations in European international locations blamed on Russia.
No formal hyperlink has nevertheless been established and Moscow denies duty.
The European Union lists 598 vessels, suspected of being a part of the “shadow fleet”, as banned from European ports and maritime providers.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260330-france-hands-captain-of-suspected-russian-shadow-fleet-tanker-one-year-jail-sentence