Finland court convicts Fitburg captain and crew member over Baltic sea cable damage

A Finnish ‌court said ​on Thursday it has found the captain and a ‌crew member of the cargo ship Fitburg guilty of damaging two subsea telecommunications cables in the ‌Gulf of Finland last year.

Finland on December ‌31 seized the vessel in the Gulf of Finland while it was en route from Russia to ⁠Israel, ​on suspicion ⁠that it had damaged cables running from Helsinki to Estonia. Finland ⁠has intensified efforts to protect its undersea infrastructure ​following a string of incidents affecting cables and ⁠pipelines in the Baltic Sea since 2022, including ⁠a vessel-boarding ​drill it conducted in September.

Both defendants were found guilty of aggravated sabotage, the ⁠court said. The defendants, who are subject to travel ⁠bans, ⁠denied any wrongdoing and have challenged Finland's jurisdiction in the case.