Posted:
June 16, 2009
Two ship officers, Jasprit Chawla and Syam Chetan, master and chief mate of the Hebei Spirit, were found not guilty of the primary charge against them by a South Korean supreme court and given release to leave the country following 18 months of detention in South Korea, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) reported.
The court pronounced the men not guilty of causing destruction to property when the VLCC Hebei Spirit while at anchorage was hit by a runaway crane barge. The incident caused a devastating oil spill in December 2007. Although the officers were cleared of the primary charge, a lesser charge from a lower court against them—failing to do more to prevent oil leakage from the tanker—remains, the ITF reported.
Both officers were to have returned home to India shortly after the ruling. “We are just waiting to come back to India and be united with our [families],” Capt. Chawla said. “The last 18 months have been a traumatic experience for us and we would have been behind bars if it had not been for the efforts of those who supported us and we are very thankful to them."
Commenting on release of the Hebei Spirit officers, ITF General Secretary David Cockroft said: “We are pleased—everyone is pleased—to see these men’s innocence upheld. But, like everyone in shipping, we find it unacceptable that the lesser charge against them was never removed. We commend them for their bravery these last 18 months, congratulate V Ships for standing by them so effectively, and join everyone who has struggled to get them set free in expressing relief at their imminent return home. We cannot however excuse the unfair criminalization that they have undergone and the contradictory nature of the dual verdicts.”
The case of the Hebei Spirit officers is among the latest and most drastic examples of the criminalization of seafarers around the world, a phenomenon that has seen mariners face criminal prosecution, lengthy detention in foreign nations and criminal and civil monetary penalties in the wake of maritime casualties, even in cases where the mariners being charged were not responsible for the incident resulting in the casualty.
This case drew an international outcry against the continued criminalization of seafarers and the unjust treatment faced by the Hebei Spirit officers after they were initially exonerated of the charges, then detained in South Korea and later convicted under an appeal filed by the local prosecutor.
Hebei Spirit officers released
Two ship officers, Jasprit Chawla and Syam Chetan, master and chief mate of the Hebei Spirit, were found not guilty of the primary charge against them by a South Korean supreme court and given release to leave the country following 18 months of detention in South Korea, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) reported.
The court pronounced the men not guilty of causing destruction to property when the VLCC Hebei Spirit while at anchorage was hit by a runaway crane barge. The incident caused a devastating oil spill in December 2007. Although the officers were cleared of the primary charge, a lesser charge from a lower court against them—failing to do more to prevent oil leakage from the tanker—remains, the ITF reported.
Both officers were to have returned home to India shortly after the ruling. “We are just waiting to come back to India and be united with our [families],” Capt. Chawla said. “The last 18 months have been a traumatic experience for us and we would have been behind bars if it had not been for the efforts of those who supported us and we are very thankful to them."
Commenting on release of the Hebei Spirit officers, ITF General Secretary David Cockroft said: “We are pleased—everyone is pleased—to see these men’s innocence upheld. But, like everyone in shipping, we find it unacceptable that the lesser charge against them was never removed. We commend them for their bravery these last 18 months, congratulate V Ships for standing by them so effectively, and join everyone who has struggled to get them set free in expressing relief at their imminent return home. We cannot however excuse the unfair criminalization that they have undergone and the contradictory nature of the dual verdicts.”
The case of the Hebei Spirit officers is among the latest and most drastic examples of the criminalization of seafarers around the world, a phenomenon that has seen mariners face criminal prosecution, lengthy detention in foreign nations and criminal and civil monetary penalties in the wake of maritime casualties, even in cases where the mariners being charged were not responsible for the incident resulting in the casualty.
This case drew an international outcry against the continued criminalization of seafarers and the unjust treatment faced by the Hebei Spirit officers after they were initially exonerated of the charges, then detained in South Korea and later convicted under an appeal filed by the local prosecutor.