Ukraine impounds ship for docking in Sevastopol
KYIV. March 25 (Interfax) - A Ukrainian court has arrested a ship called MV Kanton (registered in Tuvalu) in Kherson seaport for docking in the ports of annexed Crimea.
"Breaches by vessels of the regulations governing the docking in the closed ports of Crimea for the purpose of harming the interests of the state are being investigated, the public relations department of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has reported.
According to Deputy Prosecutor General and Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios, during the investigation it was found that a vessel registered to Tuvalu illegally docked in the closed port of Sevastopol in July 2014, and in March 2015 it docked in Kherson seaport for loading.
"Irrefutable evidence of the commission by the ship's captain, a citizen of Turkey, of a crime enshrined by Part 2 of Article 332-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (breach of the regulations governing entrance in and departure of the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine has been received," the report says.
The article carries a punishment of three to five years in prison and confiscation of the vessel.
The vessel was notified in a letter that it was under suspicion of breaking the law, and the notice was sent to the relevant Turkish authorities along with a request for international legal assistance.
On March 24, the Kyiv Pechersky District Court granted an investigator's request to impound the vessel MV Kanton. The vessel is now in the Kherson seaport.