French court acquits Russian ship captain over sanctions violation

A French court has acquitted the captain of the ship Baltic Leader, who was accused of violating EU sanctions in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when he left the port of Rouen with his ship flying the Russian flag.

The captain was cleared by the Rouen Criminal Court on 10 October, after facing charges and having his ship confiscated by French authorities. The prosecution had sought a €16 million fine and a 10-month suspended prison sentence, arguing that the vessel was owned by PSB Leasing, a Russian company under sanctions.

At the centre of the case was the question of the ship’s ownership at the time of its interception. Prosecutors contended that the Baltic Leader remained under the control of PSB Leasing, a subsidiary of the Russian state-linked Promsvyazbank, which had been targeted by European sanctions. However, the captain’s defence had argued the vessel had already been sold to another company, TransMorFlot, just days before the war in Ukraine broke out.

The court’s ruling followed a similar decision by the Douai Court of Appeal in December 2022, which had ordered the release of the ship, determining that TransMorFlot had taken ownership on 16 February 2022, nine days before the Baltic Leader was seized.

The acquittal closes a high-profile case that had brought attention to the enforcement of European sanctions against Russian entities in the wake of the Ukraine invasion.