The Madras High Court Bench here on Thursday directed the Superintendent of Puzhal Central Prison, Chennai, to provide necessary medical attention to the captain of US anti-piracy ship MV Seaman Guard Ohio Dudnik Valentyn (66), a Ukranian national, who had been reportedly diagnosed with skin cancer.
Justice B. Gokuldas gave the direction during the hearing of criminal appeals preferred against the conviction and five-year sentence imposed by the Principal Sessions Court in Thoothukudi on January 11 last on 35 crew members of the ship for entering Indian territorial waters illegally with a huge cache of arms and ammunition in 2013.
The convicts included six British nationals, 14 Estonians, three Ukranians and 12 Indians. On Februrary 29, Justice V.S. Ravi (since retired) had dismissed applications filed by the convicts to suspend their sentence and grant bail until the conclusion of appeal proceedings, and instead directed the High Court Registry to expedite the hearing of the appeals. The appellants before the High Court included Mr. Valentyn and the vessel’s Tactical Deployment Officer F. Paul David Dennish Towers (52), a Briton.
‘ Vessel got stranded’
Denying the charge of having entered Indian waters illegally, they claimed that their vessel had got stranded on high seas, since it ran out of diesel, when the Coast Guard intercepted it in October 2013.
