Five Filipino crew members and Ukrainian captain of cargo ship MV Donald have been held in San Diego since May 2022 as witnesses in trial of ship's chief engineer
On Tuesday afternoon, the same judge signed an order essentially releasing them and allowing them to return home, a process that was expected to happen almost immediately.Their situation highlighted a legal mechanism in maritime law that allows the U.S. government to hold foreign witnesses in the U.S. for long stretches, sometimes even for months before criminal charges are ever filed.
Last week, all six of the sailors testified at the trial of 40-year-old Russian citizen Denys Korotkiy, the MV Donald’s chief engineer, with the captain testifying in his defense. The five-day trial ended Friday with the jury convicting Korotkiy on two of three counts related to obstructing justice, acquitting him on the other count. They also convicted him of failing to maintain an accurate oil record book — a largely technical charge that can sometimes allow the U.S.
According to that plea agreement, $312,500 will be a community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which has agreed to use the money to fund projects or initiatives that benefit marine and coastal natural resources in and around the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve. cq reserve
For months, the witnesses idled in San Diego, bouncing around hotel rooms paid for by the ship’s parent company, but with no word of charges being filed. The crew members eventually settled in a shared rental home in Vista, and in November they filed an emergency petition asking a judge to allow them to participate in depositions and go home to their families. They called their continued presence in the San Diego area unjust and a de facto form of detention.
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