Finnish court jails Azerbaijani sailor for 2 years 10 months over subsea cable damage

Helsinki District Court on November 5 sentenced Vusal Majidov, the boatswain of the cargo ship Fitburg and a citizen of Azerbaijan, to 2 years and 10 months in prison in the case of damage to subsea communication cables in the Gulf of Finland.

The court sentenced the ship's captain, Russian citizen Andrei Maksimenko, to 3 years and 6 months in prison. Both men were found guilty of intentionally causing serious damage to subsea communication cables in the Gulf of Finland on December 31, 2025 – aggravated sabotage – and were given unconditional prison terms.

According to the investigation, the Fitburg's anchor and anchor chain were dragged along the seabed for about 130 kilometres over several hours. As a result, two subsea telecommunications cables were damaged. Seven other telecommunications and power cables, as well as a gas pipeline, were put at risk of damage.

The court found that the defendants must have known the anchor was down while the ship was moving at sea. The court also said it had jurisdiction, noting that the offences were intentional and that their effects were felt in Finland. The captain and the boatswain denied committing a crime and asked for the charges to be dismissed. The ruling is not final and can be appealed.

The trial began on September 8, 2026. The two men were charged with aggravated sabotage and aggravated interference with communications networks. Prosecutors had sought prison terms of at least two and a half years. According to the prosecution, the cables were damaged in Estonia's exclusive economic zone, with part of the damage occurring in Finnish territorial waters. The boatswain's lawyer had argued that the case should not be heard in a Finnish court.

The 132-metre Fitburg, sailing under the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, was travelling from Saint Petersburg to the Israeli city of Haifa. Finnish authorities stopped the ship on December 31, 2025 and escorted it to Kantvik harbour near Kirkkonummi. That morning, the operator Elisa had reported a fault in the Helsinki–Tallinn subsea data cable. The ship's 14-member crew consisted of citizens of Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Finnish Customs confiscated the ship's cargo of Russian-origin structural steel included on the EU sanctions list.