NIGERIA: Nigerian court postpones hearing for 15 Russian sailors facing charges of arms smuggling

Record ID: 236019

  • Title: NIGERIA: Nigerian court postpones hearing for 15 Russian sailors facing charges of arms smuggling
  • Date: 10th April 2013
  • Summary: LAGOS, NIGERIA (APRIL 10, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JUSTICE STATUE OUTSIDE COURT SIGN READING (English): "FEDERAL HIGH COURT" VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN SAILORS NEAR COURT BUILDING ENGINEER, VARLYGIN IGOR, SMOKING RUSSIAN SAILORS TALKING NEAR COURT BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ENGINEER, VARLYGIN IGOR, SAYING: "Now, on the territory of the embassy, I feel fine. It was worse in the prison. They sent us there illegally by the way. I felt terrible there. Now, on the territory of the Russian Embassy, I feel good more or less, but I want to go home. I haven't been home for nine months." RUSSIAN SAILORS NEAR COURT BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ENGINEER, VARLYGIN IGOR, SAYING: "In general, I think that I haven't seen anything good from the Nigerian government, but I hope that with this court, and God forbid other courts, I think that they'll let us go home after this court. I miss home, and I miss my daughter too." RUSSIAN SAILORS STANDING AND TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAILOR, PAVEL MISHIN, SAYING: "I think I am stay here not illegally, I am not guilty, I was here as sailors, I come here by visa, we took visa in Nigerian embassy in Moscow and come, came, here in 20th of September, with visa, with all immigration papers, and what you speak and what do you speak for us, is the illegal armour, it is not correct, we are not guilty, everybody, we not guilty, and we stay here, not by your government, not illegal." VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN EMBASSY REPRESENTATIVES STANDING NEAR COURT BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) SAILOR, PAVEL MISHIN, SAYING: "No, It's about arms, nothing, because I'm civil seaman, and I come for ship, for watching, not watching, on navigational bridge, I need keep watch on the navigational bridge ok? JOURNALIST: So the weapon, is it for your personal protection? Yes, yes yes, weapons is nothing for me my friend, weapons is legal, weapons, we kept all documents, okay, understood." BUS DRIVING AWAY FROM COURT
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Crime,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4LLPPNGZPWFJE93HDB1D9ABO8
  • Story Text: A Nigerian high court postponed on Wednesday (April 10) the hearing date for fifteen Russian sailors charged with illegally bringing weapons into the country last year.
    The sailors were told in the federal high court that the judge was ill and unable to attend the court sessions and the hearing date was postponed to April 30.
    The Russian sailors are being charged with arms smuggling and were granted bail on February 25 by a Lagos court.
    Nigerian authorities intercepted a ship and arrested its Russian crew on October 23 after they found several guns and around 8,500 rounds of ammunition aboard.
    The sailors have pleaded not guilty and the Moran Security Group, the Russian company that owns the confiscated vessel, has said the ship had permission to carry arms, calling the accusations "groundless".
    Russia's Foreign Ministry has also spoken out against the charges and said Nigeria had broken an earlier promise to release the sailors.
    One of the sailors facing trial, engineer Varlygin Igor, said that they had been moved to premises at the Russian embassy, where conditions were better.

    "Now, on the territory of the embassy, I feel fine. It was worse in the prison. They sent us there illegally by the way. I felt terrible there. Now, on the territory of the Russian Embassy, I feel good more or less, but I want to go home. I haven't been home for nine months," he said.
    Igor added that he was not fairly treated by the Nigerian government.

    "In general, I think that I haven't seen anything good from the Nigerian government, but I hope that with this court, and God forbid other courts, I think that they'll let us go home after this court. I miss home, and I miss my daughter too," he said.

    "I am not guilty, I was here as sailors, I come here by visa, we took visa in Nigerian embassy in Moscow and come, came, here in 20th of September, with visa, with all immigration papers, and what you speak and what do you speak for us, is the illegal armour, it is not correct, we are not guilty, everybody, we not guilty, and we stay here, not by your government, not illegal," he said.

    "No, It's about arms, nothing, because I'm civil seaman, and I come for ship, for watching, not watching, on navigational bridge, I need keep watch on the navigational bridge ok?," he added, "weapons is nothing for me my friend, weapons is legal, weapons, we kept all documents."
    Arms smuggling to and through Nigeria is rife. Demand for weapons is great because of an Islamist rebellion in the north, armed robbery and kidnapping by gangs in the south and oil theft and piracy in the southeast.
    The country is also sometimes used as a conduit for shipping arms to other conflict-ridden parts of West Africa.
    Another Russian sailor on trial, Pavel Mishin, said they were not guilty of the charges against them.
    In 2010, a consignment of rocket launchers, grenades and other explosives from Iran was seized in Lagos, causing a diplomatic row between Nigeria and Iran.
    It also strained ties between Iran and Senegal, which accused Iranian security forces of trying to supply weapons to its Casamance rebels.
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