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Finnish Court Drops Case Regarding Damage to Undersea Cables
the Helsinki Regional Court has dismissed a case involving damage to undersea cables in the gulf of Finland, ruling it lacked jurisdiction. The court stated Finnish criminal law could not be applied to the incident.
Three crew members had been charged with serious material damage and gross telecommunications disruption, facing a potential sentence of two and a half years in prison as requested by the prosecutor. The charges stemmed from damage to the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecommunications cables connecting Finland and Estonia, discovered on December 25th.
prosecutors alleged the damage occurred when the ship’s anchor was dragged along the seabed for nearly 100 kilometers, severing the cables. Thay attributed the incident to a failure in the ship’s anchor fasteners.
Despite the damage, the prosecution did not pursue a theory of intentional sabotage, nor did they assess any potential connection to Russian hybrid operations. The ship’s captain, in an august interview with broadcaster Yle, maintained the incident was unintentional.
A key point of contention throughout the case was jurisdiction. The defense argued the incident occurred outside Finnish territorial waters and therefore should not be tried in helsinki. The prosecution countered that Finland had the right to investigate as the vessel had entered finnish waters. Ultimately,the court sided with the defense on the matter of jurisdiction,leading to the case’s dismissal.
