The Moscow Basmanny District Court has extended the arrest of the suspected assailants of the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea until 18 February at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General Office’s Investigation Committee.
The case and the cargo the ship was purportedly carrying are still shrouded in mystery.
“The judge extended custody of Andrei Lunev and Vitaly Lepin for three months and 29 days, until 18 February,” Moscow City Court press secretary Anna Usachyova told the Russian Itar-Tass news agency on Friday.
A similar decision was made for another six suspects earlier.
The Basmanny District Court authorised the arrest of eight suspected assailants of the Arctic Sea dry cargo ship, including two Russian citizens, one citizen of Estonia, one of Latvia and three stateless persons, on 21 August.
Russian citizen Dmitry Bartenev, born in Tallinn in 1967, told the court that it had no right to try him in the case because the events took place in Swedish territorial waters and the ship had the Maltese flag. Lawyer Konstantin Baranovsky said that an international investigative team, which had been formed recently, should hold the inquiry. He also said that the suspects’ file did not indicate their motive.
The suspected assailants pleaded not guilty and described themselves as environmentalists seeking assistance of the Arctic Sea crew. They also said they were not armed. “There was a gale and we were seeking refuge at the first vessel we saw,” Bartenev said.
Almost all of them but Borisov and Buleyev are unemployed. Borisov is a builder from Profsomnet, and Buleyev is a steel fixer from K-Most.
One of the suspects, Andrei Lunev, told the court he did not mind being taken into custody.
The suspects were brought to the Moscow Lefortovo detention ward on 20 August.
The suspects were charged with abduction and sea piracy.
The Arctic Sea flying the Maltese flag and operated by 15 Arkhangelsk sailors was due to bring timber from Finland to Algeria on 4 August. Contact with the ship was lost on 28 July. It appeared later that a high-speed inflatable boat carrying eight men approached the ship at 11pm Moscow time on 24 July. The men said their boat was out of order and embarked the Arctic Sea. The crewmembers said that the men were wearing black clothes with the word ‘Policia’ printed on the backs. The assailants ordered the crew to head for Africa and to disconnect navigation equipment.
A Russian warship found the Arctic Sea offshore Cape Verde on 17 August and released the crew without opening fire.
The international inquiry of the Arctic Sea dry cargo ship situation will go on, a source at the Finnish Central Criminal Police told Itar-Tass recently.
The international detective group includes representatives of Finland, Sweden, Malta, Latvia and Estonia. The group and Russian representatives held a two-day meeting in Vantaa, Finland.
The meeting focused on information collected in parallel investigations. The sides agreed to step up cooperation and compared their progress.
The international inquiry was launched in July 2009. Finland is investigating the ransom demanded for the seized ship.