Sweden may hand over the Caffa ship to Ukraine — the court qualified the owners’ actions as a war crime

A Swedish district court has ruled that the arrest was lawful and that the actions of the Caffa owners could be classified as a war crime under Swedish law.

A Swedish court has ruled that the arrest of the Russian “shadow fleet” vessel Caffa was lawful and allowed it to be transferred to Ukraine. Reuters reports.

The vessel was detained by Swedish police and coast guard off the country’s southern coast in March. According to investigators, the Caffa was flying a false flag and violating maritime law due to its poor technical condition. Most of the 11 crew members were Russian citizens at the time of the arrest.

The district court has ruled that the actions of the vessel’s owners could be classified as a war crime under Swedish law. This paves the way for the transfer of Caffa and the collected evidence to Ukrainian authorities. Ukraine is seeking the transfer of the vessel as part of an investigation into the illegal appropriation of property from temporarily occupied territories.

The owner of the vessel, Caffa Shipping Limited, has tried to appeal the arrest. According to the Swedish prosecutor, she has three more weeks to file an appeal.

As a reminder, on June 4, a Swedish court for the first time in history arrested a vessel at the request of the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office.

Also, the day before, France arrested the captain of the Russian “shadow” tanker Tagor. He faces up to a year in prison and a fine of €150,000, and the vessel may be confiscated.