Cyprus jails captain for docking in the north

The captain of a Ukraine-bound oil tanker was sentenced to prison on Tuesday in the Republic of Cyprus, two days after he was arrested in the south for docking his ship in the north last year.

According to the Cyprus News Agency, the captain of Red Garnet was arrested on Sunday morning at Vasilikos Power Station in Larnaca district on charges of illegal entry dating back to October and December of 2020.

The Malta-flag chemical tanker, which is owned and managed by an Italian company, was on its way to the Black Sea where it was scheduled to arrive in Odessa on Saturday.

Greek Cypriot law enforcement officers arrested the captain, described as a 60-year-old Romanian national, after it was determined that he had docked in the north at Bogazi, a port at the base of the Karpas peninsula.

Although the port operates under Turkish Cypriot authorities, it is considered a “closed port” by the Republic of Cyprus in the south while violators can be prosecuted for illegally docking their ships in the north.

A Larnaca District Court judge handed a one month prison sentence to the captain on Tuesday for unauthorized entry to the Republic of Cyprus.

The detention of the Romanian captain took place without red tape in accordance with special fast-track procedures.

A similar case of a Syrian captain, who was detained after his Belize-flagged vessel docked in Famagusta port in 2019, was assessed an €1800 fine by a Limassol judge on the very same day of the arrest but there was no prison sentence.