Ukrain Frontier Service Refused Access to "Nord" Crew for RF Consuls. "Izvestia", 4 April 2018.
The Ukrain Frontier Service does not give access to the crew of the arrested ship "Nord" for the officers of the Consulate RF on the grounds of expedience. That was announced by the "Gromadskoe Radio" with reference to the representatives of the Service.
The "Gromadskoe Radio" quotes Oleg Slobodyan, mate of the Frontier Service Commander, - "The ship belongs to Ukrain, the crew members are Ukrainians. As they are citizens of Ukrain, there is no reason for giving foreign diplomats access to them."
On 4 November the Russian Embassy in Kiev demanded to get immediate consulate access to the crew members of the captured ship "Nord" from the Ukrainian authorities, and declared that it would do its best to achieve their release and return of the vessel to the owner as soon as possible.
But, as Dmitry Scherbina, advocate of the sailors, reported, the attempt of the crew of the Russian fishing ship "Nord"to land was roughly prevented by the Ukrainian reinforcement.
According to advocate Anton Imennov, head of international practice of attorneys at law Pen & Paper, the Ukrainian part should concentrate on the fulfillment of the international law norms, clause 13 of the Consul Convention between the RF and Ukrain "Notification of arrest, detention, imprisonment and visiting" and clause 73 of the International Convention on the Marine Law "Provision of Laws and Rules of Maritime State", in particular.
The Russian ship "Nord" was detained by the Ukrainian Frontier Guard on 25 March, on its way to the Crimea, in the Azov sea. The ship with 10 fishermen on board was brought to Berdyansk and arrested. The Crimea FSS initiated a case under clause 211 CC RF "Hijacking of an air or water transport vehicle, or a railway train". An administrative report was drawn up on the crew members.
Captain Vladimir Gorbenko was charged with "breaching the order of entering the Crimea". On 4 April he was brought to the Kherson Law Court without warning. He may get up to a 5-year imprisonment sentence.