A Swedish court has ruled that the seizure of the cargo ship “Caffa” in the Baltic Sea was lawful and allowed it to be transferred to Ukraine. The ship is suspected of illegally transporting grain from territories temporarily occupied by Russia.
Reuters writes about this.
Swedish police and coastguards detained the “Caffa” off the countryʼs southern coast in March. According to investigators, the vessel was flying a false flag and violating maritime law and safety regulations due to its poor technical condition.
Ukraine is seeking the transfer of the vessel as part of an investigation into Russian war crimes related to the illegal appropriation and removal of property from temporarily occupied territories.
On June 4, a court in Sweden arrested the “Caffa” — the first time a foreign court has arrested a vessel at the request of the Ukrainian prosecutorʼs office.
The district court noted that the actions of which the “Caffa” owners are suspected could qualify as a war crime under Swedish law, paving the way for the vessel and evidence to be handed over to Ukrainian authorities.
“Caffa Shipping Limited”, which owns the dry cargo ship, had previously tried to appeal the arrest. However, according to the Swedish prosecutor, the owner still has three weeks to file an appeal.
When the ship was detained, it turned out that most of the 11 crew members were Russian citizens.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.