The Finland's Helsinki District Court ruled on October 3 that Finland has no authority to prosecute the captain and two crew members of the Eagle S tanker, who were accused of severing underground and Internet cables in the Baltic Sea last year.
The captain is Davit Vadatchkoria, from Georgia, along withlaimers Robert Egizaryan, from Georgia and Santosh Kumar Chaurasia, from India.
This trial is one of the first judicial efforts to punish suspects who damaged critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
However, the implementation process is complicated due to the provisions of international maritime law and difficulties in proving the intention to commit a crime. Both the captain and the Eagle S tanker seaports denied the allegations.
"Today, the District Court issued a verdict to reject the allegations in the case along with the claims for compensation for damages arising from this allegation, because it is not possible to apply Finnish criminal law to the case," the court's statement stated.
NATO forces in the Baltic Sea have been placed on high alert following the incident on December 25, 2024, one of a series of incidents that severed cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022.
The Eagle S tanker, registered in the Cook Islands, was accused of dragging a ship's anchor for about 90km underwater, severing five cables in the Gulf of Finland on December 25, 2024.
The Eagle S is believed to belong to the Russian shadow fleet, which is an oil tanker used by Russia to avoid Western sanctions.
The captain and two crew members of the Eagle S have been charged with "serious criminal sabotage and seriously disturbing communication".
In the September trial this year, Finnish prosecutors argued that the three defendants deliberately neglected their duties after leaving the Russian port of Ust-Luga on Christmas Day 2024 and proposed a minimum sentence of 2 years and 6 months in prison without conditions.
The captain and crew were allegedly forced to spot and check the anchor as the speed of the tanker slowed down, as the signals "clearly showed that the tanker was dragging something".
In the trial on September 12, 2025, the Finnish court lifted the ban on entry and exit for the suspects effective from December 2024, rejecting the prosecution's request for an extension.
