French court convicts Chinese captain of oil tanker linked to Russian shadow fleet
he tanker Borocay, believed to be part of Russia’s shadow fleet, off the coast of the French port of Saint-Nazaire in October.
Photo: AFP A French court on Monday issued an arrest warrant and a one-year prison sentence against the Chinese captain of a suspected Russian “shadow fleet” tanker over failing to comply with orders to stop his ship.
Chen Zhangjie, 39, was sentenced in absentia after the French navy boarded the Boracay tanker in September before releasing the vessel and its crew days later, in what Russian leader Vladimir Putin condemned as “piracy”.
The court in the western city of Brest also ordered Chen to pay a €150,000 (US$172,000) fine.
The vessel, claiming to be flagged in Benin, was thought to be part of a fleet transporting Russian oil in violation of Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Vessels in the “shadow fleet” frequently change the flags they fly, a practice known as “flag-hopping”, and sometimes sail under invalid flags in an attempt to escape detection and tracking.
When the French navy approached the ship in international waters off western France on September 27, it was thought to be transporting Russian oil to India, without a visible banner.
They informed the vessel they were going to board it for a nationality check, according to the investigation.
An hour later, the crew hoisted a Benin flag but the authorities in Porto Novo had already told their French counterparts that no tanker was registered in their country.
The captain told the French authorities during his time in custody that he had not put it up initially because of the weather. “It was raining and you don’t put up a flag when it’s raining,” he said.
The captain stalled any boarding, saying he was waiting for authorisation from the ship’s owner, until the navy eventually boarded.
The tanker Boracay from Russia’s so-called shadow fleet.
Photo: AFP The Boracay, today named The Phoenix and flying the Russian flag, was on Monday in the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, according to tanker tracking website Marine Traffic.
The captain’s lawyer, Henri de Richemont, has called the ruling “absolutely incomprehensible”.
He argues that a French court does not have the authority to rule in the case as the ship was in international waters.
Two employees of a Russian private security company were on board the Boracay when the French navy stopped it, an informed French source and the captain’s lawyer have told Agence France-
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