A District Court in Tuticorin on Monday sentenced thirty five foreign nationals to five years imprisonment in a case related to the detention of a US ship by the Indian Coast Guard ship 'Naikidevi' on charges of trespassing into Indian waters and possessing weapons in 2013.
Subramanian Adityan- the lawyer of the accused, however, said that they are going to appeal before the Madras High Court against this judgement.
"I am not here to criticize the judgment. However we are going to file an appeal before the Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) insighting that this judgment is unlawful. We will file an appeal as early as possible," Adityan told ANI.
"They are entitled to be on a voyage throughout the world to give protection to the merchant ships and to the passenger ships as an anti piracy vessels. We have produced copies of the licenses and also produced the original copy later. But the court has come to a conclusion that we have violated the norms by entering into the territorial waters even though we denied it," he added.
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The ship, 'Seaman Guard Ohio,' was detained on October 18, 2013, by Indian Coast Guard ship 'Naikidevi' on charges of trespassing into Indian waters and possessing weapons.
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After arms and ammunition were seized from the vessel, the 10-member crew and 25 guards were arrested by 'Q' Branch police on October 18. The vessel is under guard at V.O. Chidambaranar Port.
